Vengeance for the Fallen
by JayredvasNormandy
Summary: OC/Major Carver Frost finds himself fighting in a war to save the galaxy, In his eyes those stakes are too high. He and his diverse platoon of Special forces soldiers and Mercenaries fight to avenge their fallen comrades. Inspired by Mass Effect 3 multiplayer.
1. prologue

_****__Author's notes: Mass Effect 3 and all related characters and trademarks are property of EA/Bioware. Rated M for language, violence and suggestive themes._  


_**Vengeance for the Fallen **_

**Prologue **

2 Days before Reaper invasion of Earth

Drifting through the inky black of space the Systems Alliance frigate _**Pearl Harbor**_ ran on minimum power in an attempt to go unnoticed by any that may have been looking. The vessel was currently patrolling the neutral region between Alliance and Batarian space, _**Pearl Harbor**_ was tasked to watch for any activity from the increasingly quiet Hegemony. Six months prior Commander Shepard was reported to have caused the total destruction of a Batarian system and consequently the deaths of over three hundred thousand colonist. Alliance brass had made it clear that they wanted Alliance territory secure in the event of Batarian retaliation.

"Sit rep." Captain Allana Fallon ordered from behind the pilot's seat.

"No Activity detected, it's a bit creepy ma'am. This is the main route to the Cadmas relay, we should be seeing freighter activity at the least. But as far as I can tell we're totally alone out here." reported the young sensor officer.

"Maintain passive scanning; let me know if anything changes."

The Captain turned to head back through the heart of the ship when she spotted her XO, Major Carver Frost heading her way with a look of concern in his eye.

"Still nothing on scanners?" he asked, thought it was clearly a statement and not a question.

"It just doesn't make sense, where the hell have they all gone?" she asked not really expecting an answer.

The two officers began making their way back toward the body of the frigate as they mused over their situation.

"It's starting to look like Shepard may have been right." Frost stated without preamble.

"Please Major, I still haven't seen anything to make me believe the Apocalypse is coming and I'd appreciate it if we could focus on the evidence in front of us."

Almost as if on cue alarms and lights began blaring.

"Multiple contacts." shouted the pilot.

"I've got three ships on sensors, two match Batarian frigate profiles …this can't be right."

"What is it?" Fallon asked returning to the cockpit with Frost right on her heels.

"The third ship, profile matches the Geth Dreadnought from the Battle of the Citadel."

Silence dominated the cockpit for a short moment while the irony of the command team's recent conversation sunk in.

"What's the evidence look like now Captain?" Frost asked humorlessly.

"Get us the hell out of here lieutenant." was the only response the Captain gave.


	2. Chapter 1

**_Author's notes: Mass Effect, Mass Effect 2, Mass Effect 3 and all related characters and trademarks are property of EA/Bioware. Rated M for language, violence and suggestive themes._**

**Chapter 1-The calm before the storm**

Major Carver Frost slowly pulled himself out of the tiny coffin like sleeper pod. His watch on the bridge had ended two hours earlier so he still had plenty of time before he was due back on duty. Despite that fact rest was something his body had chosen to deny him. Frost made his way toward the crew mess thinking maybe he should have used the sleep aid function on the pod. He never used it because he hated the way his body felt after an induced slumber. Finally reaching the mess area he made his way over to the pot of coffee that was no doubt the same one he saw brewing two hour prior.

"You call that coffee?"Said a feminine voice from behind him that he immediately recognized.

Behind him stood Operations Chief Nami Yong wearing her customary mischievous look, the young woman's lithe form and carefree demeanor hid the fact that she was one of the deadliest members of the crew. Born and raised on Earth, Nami had been honed from an early age to be a dangerous individual. Her childhood had been spent being educated in not only academics but also the art of combat. She had attended one military academy after the next until she was old enough to enlist in the Alliance military. Over the years she had not only become an infiltration expert but also a hand to hand combat specialist. She and Frost had spent the last two years together on various assignments, Alliance brass had recognized the fact that the pair seemed to have chemistry on the battlefield. They had first met during their time at the N7 villa in Rio, and despite regulation they had become good friends. Each of their careers had become hectic following their time at the villa but they had managed to maintain contact. When they were assigned to _**Pearl Harbor**_ it was like a perfect pair reuniting.

"I can't drink that tar you call coffee, I actually like to enjoy what I'm drinking." Frost replied sarcastically.

"So, how long we gonna be star gazing out here? We haven't seen anything from the squints since we got here." Nami asked.

"And that's the whole problem, when's the last time you saw space this close to a major relay transit lane this empty?" Frost replied.

"Guess you got a point. Still feels like a waste, I mean brass could at least let us take a closer look."

"And if the Batarians are planning something? Having an Alliance Ship in their territory may be just what they've been waiting for." He had been giving this a lot of thought."But honestly, I don't think that's it either. Even if they were preparing for a push against us we should still be seeing some transient traffic out here."

Yong seemed to give that some thought before responding. "So, what are you thinking?"

"You've read Shepard's reports just like I have. Those weren't the ramblings of a man losing his mind, they were coherent tactical assessments. If you look at it like that this makes all the sense in the world."

The Chief stayed quiet as she give what he said some thought. When she spoke again her voice held no humor. "If Shepard was right then the Batarians are already gone."

With that they both descended back into silence mentally weighing the reality of their situation.

''Who shit in your cheerios?" came another familiar voice.

Frost and Yong were both pulled back to the here and now by the voice of Sergeant Kail Averez. Averez was the squad tech. expert and resident egghead. If it had circuits and power he was the man to hack it, crack it, or rig it in any way a Spec. Ops team might find handy. Kail was a young man as was typical of most Spec. Ops soldiers. Nevertheless he had an impressive resume, which was what had landed him assigned to Frost's team. Initially his placement on the squad had been to assess his readiness for N7 certification, but after a few missions Frost had requested a permanent transfer.

Ignoring Averez's question, Frost asked."Any Developments up in the C.I.C.?"

"Last I checked we were still the only ones at the party."

With that Frost headed for the stairs leading from the crew deck to the C.I.C. to get a first hand update.

"Guess he's in a mood." Averez stated flatly.

"Just got a lot on his mind is all." Nami replied in Frost defense.

As the two marines settled into a lighter conversation they were joined by the last two members of their squad, Sergeant Robert Gibson and Corporal Jenifer Dooley made their way towards the pair holding their own conversation.

"What have you two been up to?" Nami asked noticing the pair approaching.

"Just finished moding my new gear." Dooley answered.

Gibson was the teams support gunner and heavy weapons expert; he spent most of his time moding and maintaining the squad's equipment. As the Squads biotic specialist Dooley had little skill in that department, so it was likely that Gibson had done all of the work while Dooley worked at slowing him down.

"Where's the Major, I wanted to show him the new specs on my pistol. Gibs just tripled the punch with that new barrel."

"Not a good time I'd say." Averez responded.

...

Major Frost was just entering the C.I.C when he caught sight of Captain Fallon leaving the cockpit.

"Still nothing on sensors?" Frost asked.

The two officers exchanged knowing looks before the Captain responded. As their differing opinions of the situation became clear the C.I.C. erupted into activity.

"Multiple contacts."

"I've got three ships on scanners."

"Two Batarian Frigates, one unknown… wait that can't be right."

"What've we got Ensign?" the Captain barked.

"The third contact, Ladar matches it to the Geth Dreadnought from the Battle of the Citadel."

"I want all Systems back at full power. Get us the hell out of here lieutenant."

Outside the view ports the two Bratarian ships juked and jinked back and forth through space in an attempt at evading their massive pursuer. Crimson Beams shot forth from the vessel that looked disturbingly like a demon's severed hand flying through space. The lead frigate narrowly avoided a shot as its companion was hit solidly on the port side. It's shields were torn away like wrapping paper form a child's toy, leaving the engines on that side exposed. The ship barely lasted long enough for the shields to fail completely, the following explosion slamming into the survivor like a sledgehammer.

"Second Frigates about to go."

"ETA to FTL jump." Frost ordered.

"Momentarily Sir, NavCom's a little slow coming back up." Stated a nervous navigator.

"Why the hell was the NavCom offline?" The Captain Barked quickly losing her cool.

"Never mind that now, just get us trajectories and get them now." Frost interrupted before the navigator could answer.

"Unknown contact shifting to intercept ma'am."

As the massive Dreadnought plowed through the remains of his latest victims it caught sight of the fleeing _**Pearl Harbor**_ and like an unsatisfied predator turned in pursuit of more prey.

"How the fuck can a ship that big be so fast?" the pilot shouted all professionalism forgotten.

The Alliance pilot poured on all the power his ship had to offer and it was all pointless, the monster was steadily gaining ground on them. Just as he was about to give in to his thoughts of making a blind jump and hoping for the best the NavCom sent jump vectors to his screen. He breathed a quiet sigh of relief as his hands flew over his controls bringing the ship on course for FTL flight. Just as the Reaper was nearing firing range the _**Pearl Harbor**_ leapt forth with a flash.

**_Author's notes:_ **This story is the first attempt iv made at writing since high school so forgive me if its a bit rough around the edges. The ideas been floating around my head since the multiplayer beta so i figured i'd try my hand. I hope its enjoyable but i would love comments and critiques either way. thanks for the read.


	3. Chapter 2

**_Author's notes: Mass Effect, Mass Effect 2, Mass Effect 3 and all related characters and trademarks are property of EA/Bioware. Rated M for language, violence and suggestive themes._**

**Chapter 2 -When it hits the fan**

A mere twenty minutes had passed since the narrow escape from the Reaper Dreadnought. The mood aboard _**Pearl Harbor **_had not calmed in the slightest as the ship hurtled through space at FTL speeds heading for the Antaeus system in the Hades Gamma Cluster. The plan the command team had come up with was to get back to Alliance territory ASAP to sound the alarm. The reality of the situation was that if the Batarians were gone, then Alliance command truly had no idea of the looming threat.

"What the fuck, sir what the hell was that?" The pilot asked, confusion clear in his tone as he tried to process what he had just seen.

"Get it together Lieutenant!" Frost ordered, just then realizing that he was pacing. "What's our ETA to the relay?"

"Roughly two hours till we hit Antaeus" the pilot said checking his screens.

"I want that message away as soon as we're in range."

Frost turned on his heels without waiting for a response. Heading into the C.I.C. he saw a shell shocked looking Captain standing in front of a powered down terminal.

"We're all going to die…. I can't believe he was right." She was saying at barely audible levels.

Frost took the Captain's arm firmly and lead her to the stairwell between the C.I.C. and crew deck. After being placed against the bulkhead Fallon seemed to focus a bit.

"Get it together Captain, the crew can't see you fall apart."

"I just can't believe it, he's been telling us for years…and we just wrote him off."

"Look Allana, right now the only thing that matters is us getting back and getting the word out. Now suck it up we've got work to do."

Frost was never good with pep talks and warm speeches to inspire the troops. He had always been told that life wasn't fair and it surely wouldn't wait while you cry about it. Despite his bluntness the Captain seemed to snap back a bit, she looked to be coming around but Frost could still see the panic in her eyes. With a shallow nod the Captain headed back toward the C.I.C., with a soft sigh Frost followed.

…..

Two hours later the _**Pear Harbor**_ dropped out of FTL at the edge of the Antaeus system. The frigate immediately accelerated in the direction of the Mass Relay.

"Thirty minutes to relay." Stated a considerably calmer pilot.

"Sir we've got a problem, I can't get a ping on any comm buoys." The sensor officer said with confusion clear in his tone.

"Make sure it not on our end and try again" was Frost's reply.

"Negative sir, our systems show green but still no buoy reply."

"Get us to that relay lieutenant."

Frost paced contemplating the possible reasons for comm buoy Interference only to come up empty, and once again the alarms began to scream in the C.I.C.

"It followed us, are you fucking kidding me." The pilot was starting to lose it again. Frost couldn't hide the fact that he was also getting nervous. The possibility of the Reaper following them had crossed his mind but he'd opted for being the optimist. The Reaper's course would put it between them and the relay and there was no way they could win this race.

"It didn't have to follow us, we didn't have many options." The major gave the situation a moments thought. "Head for mid system, there's no way we're making the relay before that thing all over us."

The Captain entered the cockpit and Frost cutoff the question he knew was coming from her puzzled look. "We'll never make the relay with that thing out there."

The Captain was quiet while she gave it some thought. Frost could see the panic returning to her eyes.

"Tell me you have a plan."

"I was thinking a little cat and mouse until I can come up with something better."

"This is hardly the time for jokes Major." The Captain stated with just a little desperation in her voice.

"I wish I was ma'am, but the only chance we've got is to put some distance between us. When we turned away from the relay he moved to purse, but for some reason he's not running us down like last time. Maybe he wants to take his time. Its' a long shot but if we can somehow pull him far enough away from the relay we may have a chance to get through."

Even as he was improvising his plan it was evaporating. The Reaper wasn't slower in pursuit, it had decided the chase was over. From within the monstrosity spilled a swarm of Drones all heading straight for the frigate.

"Dreadnought breaking off, but we've got multiple fighter sized contacts on intercept."

As _**Pearl Harbor**_ blazed further away the small metallic orbs the Reaper had expelled shot off in pursuit. Having left it's parting gift the Reaper turned and disappeared with a flash. Apparently a single frigate wasn't worth the dreadnought's continued efforts and it had decided that the dozen Oculus would prove sufficient in destroying the ship.

"We've got five minutes tops before those fighters are all over us." Came the report from the sensor officer.

"Engineering, I need every ounce of power you can give me routed directly to the engines for the next ten minutes. Override all fail safes." Frost got a few concerned looks at that.

"Major we haven't had a chance to discharge yet. If we override safeties we risk the drive core overloading." The chief engineer replied. He was obviously scared but to his credit also well composed.

"Whether it overloads or not, I'd say the _**Pearl **_only has about ten minutes left, those fighters are going to cut us to pieces; I need everything you can give me."

"Understood" was the resolute response.

The lead drone closed on the _**Pearl Harbor **_and the Guardian defense lasers flashed, firing focused high intensity beams of light directly into the fighter's prow. As the first drone exploded the other eleven opened fire causing the ships barriers to flash violently. The added power being force feed into the engines kept the frigate pushing just hard enough to stay ahead of the fighters. Unfortunately, from the groaning and clanging coming from deep within the ship, it seemed that the speed was not something they could maintain for very long.

"Barriers at thirty percent and falling fast" the report was followed by an explosion in the C.I.C.

Outside the view ports the round fighters could be seen dancing around the frigate burning deep rents in the armored hull plating. Though the shields still held they flicked wildly under the relentless onslaught allowing numerous shot to slip passed the failing defenses. Another fighter was caught by the laser's blast, but on large the drones were proving far too nimble for the _**Pearl Harbor**_ to handle. Through all that was happening the Captain seemed content to allow Major Frost to take command, the blank look had returned as all hope looked to be slipping away. Frost had no time for it.

"All hand report to escape pod, launch on my command. Repeat, wait for my command."

"Lieutenant, I want a course that will skip us of that planet's atmosphere." Frost ordered, pointing at the planet hanging in the view port.

"Sir, with these things on our ass we'll never make it, already feels like she wants to come apart." The pilots statement was no exaggeration. Their barriers were now long gone, the hull was breached on multiple decks, and they were venting an assortment of substances into space.

"We don't need to make it; we've just got to give the pods a chance to get there. Engineering what's the status of the drive core?" the fact that Frost got no answer showed the full measure of his former engineer's dedication.

"Sir I'm showing plasma venting in engineering. Section seals seem to be holding but the cores going into overload." An ensign reported just before her console went dark.

"That's it everyone in the pod, lieutenant lock that course now and move your ass."

As Frost turned to head into the pod he found his team pilling in with a large equipment pack in tow. With the addition of his squad the pod was nearing its ten man capacity. The flight crew dragged the distraught Captain into the pod as they passed leaving the Major to be the last to enter. As the pods crew strapped in they felt the ship shudder violently. The drive core was pulsing frantically form the uncontrolled power looking to find a release. As the vibrations reached a fever pitch the Major gave the order to abandon ship.

In sequence the pods began rocketing away from the dying vessel. All but one of the three starboard side pods fired, the last having been welded into its ejection port form the relentless attack of the Reaper fighters. The three port side pods fired only for two to be cut down by the drones seconds into their flights. The last pod containing the marines and flight crew blasted forth just as the _**Pearl Harbor**_'s drive core detonated. The Reaper fighters never stood a chance as they were enveloped at the epicenter of the explosion, and with that one problem was gone. The surviving escape pods fared better but only slightly. The lone survivor from the port side of the ship was slammed by the shock wave sending it into an end over end spiral. The uncontrolled movements of the pod landed it directly in the path of a large fast moving chunk of the _**Pearl Harbor**_. The three remaining pods were likewise out of control but in space clear of large pieces of debris. The pods continued their uncontrolled flights until they were caught by the gravitational forces of the planet the _**Pearl Harbor **_had died above.

The _**pearl Harbor**_'s survivors descended toward the surface of the planet Trebin. The pods VI's had brought their flight paths back under control, but they still held no hope of the ideal landing as a group. Major Frost watched the other pods as their outer surfaces grew bright from the heat of reentry and they streaked further away from each other. As he watched, the space outside the view port went from inky black to blazing orange as his pod made contact with Trebin's upper atmosphere.


	4. Chapter 3

_****__Author's notes: Mass Effect 3 and all related characters and trademarks are property of EA/Bioware. Rated M for language, violence and suggestive themes._

**Chapter 3- Into the fire**

The escape pods VIs had brought their flights back under control, but despite that fact their landings had still been rough to say the least. The pod carrying the marines and flight crew had crashed in a large canyon near the planets equator. Thanks to the efforts of the VIs the other two pods were only hundreds of miles away rather than thousands. Unfortunately one of those pods had ruptured its fuel cell during its landing, leaving only a smoking ruin to mark where the crew had perished. The final pod's landing had been much smoother than the others; it now rested on relatively level ground with all occupants in one piece.

Major Frost was preparing to open the hatch of the escape pod, now wearing his combat armor that had been among the contents of the equipment pack his team carried as they abandoned ship. Frost's armor was a flat black rig issued to Spec. Ops operators, it was branded with the iconic N7 emblem across the right portion of the chest plate and had a red blood stripe down the right arm. Nami and Jennifer wore lightly armored suits that at a distance looked more like a form fit jump suit; on close inspection the armor plating became easily discernible. Nami's gear was colored jet black and sported its own N7 logos on the chest and helmet, while Jennifer's was simple gunmetal grey with black accents. Sergeant Averez's Standard issue Alliance armor was painted black with silver trim complimented by his blood red body suit. Sergeant Gibson had somehow acquired a rare Terminus armor set and had it painted ash grey with a blue pin stripe design and alliance emblems. The non-combat crew had donned the emergency Enviro-suits stored within the pod. In contrast to the five Spec. Ops marines, the Captain and flight crew's Enviro-Suits looked comically like classic HAZMAT suits.

With a hiss the seal of the pod broke allowing the alien air to mix with that inside. Visors polarized upon exiting their shelter, and as Frost stepped out onto the rocky surface he took in just how deep the canyon they'd landed in was. The sight gave him pause as his mind wrapped itself around the situation, but he had to admit it was far better than having a Reaper breathing down your neck. As he mulled over their current situation the others piled out of the pod.

"Damn, why didn't we bring the Mako again?" Averez asked jokingly.

Turning her helmeted head, Nami sarcastically answered "Because we had a big ass robot eyeball tearing its way through the hanger door."

Averez chuckled softly before replying " Remind me to show you what the Mako's main cannon is capable of next time we get the chance."

Frost spoke up and it was clear that he was affording no time for jokes. "Averez I want your drone in the air, see if you can get the other pods on the comm. The wall to the east looks scalable; I want the survival gear out of the pod ASAP. We move in five people." Turning to just his squad he continued."Nami and Gibs on point, Dooley you're babysitting."

With that everyone set about the task at hand, it wasn't long before they were heading toward the canyon wall dragging the survival kits and equipment case the marines had brought. They reached the wall after a short hike and the soldiers began prepping their gear for the climb.

"Any luck raising the other pods?" Frost asked.

Averez looked up from his omni tool for an instant before answering."Negative sir, canyons too deep to clear, I'll have to try again on the way up."

With that Frost made his way to the wall, the others were set up and ready just waiting on his order to proceed. The group slowly made their way up the wall, the high metal content of the planet slowing progress considerably. Half way through the climb Averez successfully made contact with the lone surviving pod by relaying the signal through his combat drone. The news that only nineteen of _**Pearl Harbor**_'s fifty seven crew members had survived made reaching them bitter sweet. The flight crew's moral instantly dropped when they heard, but despite the news the marines seemed to take it in stride. Progress was slowed furthermore by the fact the pilot had broken his arm when the pod crashed. His handicap was weighing heavily on the rest of the group. After a long exhausting climb they finally reached the top of the wall.

"I'm reading an odd concentration of metals to the northeast, Major. Looks like it's about ten klicks out." Averez's report interrupted a conversation Frost and Yong were holding on a private channel.

"What have you got, Kail?"

"Hard to be sure at this range, but whatever it is it ain't natural. I'm thinking large prefab structure, what else you gonna find on a rock like this with that much foreign metal?"

The decision to head toward Averez's readings at first light was made without any arguments. Frost had then ordered camp to be set up at the edge of the canyon, it was as close to putting their backs against the wall as they were going to get. The caution seemed excessive in Nami's opinion considering their surroundings, what was there to worry about on a barren world like this? She had just finished helping set up the second large survival tent and must have been on auto pilot while collecting the heaters from their crate because she was taken by total surprise when Corporal Dooley appeared at her side.

"Shit Jen, make some noise when you sneak up on me."

"And how would that be any fun?" The smile Dooley wore behind her helmet was clear in her voice.

The two women had hit it off from day one, Dooley was the newest member of the squad and Yong had welcomed another female with open arms. The fact that they both lacked the ability to be serious had also helped their bond form quickly. Yong motioned Dooley to follow as she headed back to the tent. Once they were inside of the tiny airlock that was little more than a bag separating the inner flap of the tent from the outer, Nami pressed a button on the small single switch remote attached near the entryway's seam. With a puff the bag inflated and a green light illuminated on the remote indicating it was now safe to enter. Nami removed her helmet exposing the long jet black hair she kept tied up beneath before starting the small survival heater. Dooley followed her lead and removed her own helmet, reviling her short brown hair and the soft almost childlike features it protected. The two marines were just settling into some girl talk when they heard the outer portion of the tent part to admit the remainder of their squad. Because of their larger size and the gear they were carrying, the three men entered one at a time. The trio made their way inside and began removing their nonessential equipment. As helmets came off the concerns they had kept quiet about most of the day began bubbling to the surface.

The normally stoic and silent Sergeant Gibson was first to speak "So… the Captain just lost her shit, huh?"

"Looks like it, but the only thing that matters now is that the rest of us hold it together till we get off this rock." Frost replied.

"Let's just hope we find something tomorrow, it'll suck if we spend all day walking just to find some big ass space rock." Dooley said without looking up from the ration pack she didn't seem to be enjoying very much.

"Give me some credit Jen, even at this distance I can tell these reading are way too refined to be natural. Plus, God doesn't build in straight lines." Averez stated in his defense. "_J5_ can tell the difference between a meteor and an artificial structure." He continued, sounding just a little offended.

_J5_ had started out an ordinary combat drone, but after countless hours of tinkering and tweaking Averez had upgraded the drone to the point that it nearly rivaled a VI. In addition to the most up to date combat protocols, the drone was equipped with top of the line long and short range scanners, comm signal boosters, and an extensive cyber warfare package. In short _J5_ was like a child to Kail, and he didn't like anyone doubting its ability in the field.

"Chill out egghead, we all know the night light don't make mistakes." Gibson teased just to get a further reaction from Averez.

Before Averez could respond with his customary comment about knuckle draggers and their grasp of the technical arts, the Major interrupted the exchange.

"Whatever it is, it's our only viable option right now."

"What about the other pod?" Yong asked setting down her half eaten ration bar.

"Chief Bridges was leading them to what he thinks is a mining complex near their crash site. Their supposed to check in once they get there."

Frost knew of the Exogeni Corporation's presence on Trebin, so he was hoping that one or both sites of interest would turn out to be a functioning facility. The fact that neither was responding to comm pings didn't bode well, but the Major saw no choice but to wait and see what they found.

The flight crew occupied the other survival tent, keeping watch over their broken Captain. Their mood was still somber and little conversation had taken place before they gave in to exhaustion. The spec. Ops team, far better prepared mentally for handling extreme situations, stayed up a while longer conversing to take their mind off the predicament they were in. As fatigue started taking hold, _J5_ was set to watch over the camp while they all got much needed rest.

During the night a garbled message had been received. The signal was so week it had been impossible to make out in its entirety. From what Averez and Frost could make out, the team from the second pod had reached the mining complex. Shortly after their arrival however the survivors had been attacked by something. The transmission was far too fuzzy to be sure, but Frost thought he heard someone say "Zombies everywhere" but he chalked that up to the bad signal. He had tasked Kail with trying to reestablish communication while the rest of the group broke down camp in preparation to set out for their intended destination. Having no luck raising the other pod the team moved out, Frost hoped that they would find away to boost comm signal power once they reached Averez's anomaly. After what seemed like hours of endless walking over the uneven rocky surface, an out of place silhouette appeared in the distance breaking the monotony of the unchanging scenery. As they approached it became clear that _J5_ had been accurate, they were looking at a moderately sized complex of prefabricated shelters covered in camo tarps.

Removing the Rifle from his back Frost led the group to the nearest shelter. Motioning Averez to the door's console Frost and Gibson took up positions opposite each other with backs against the door frame and weapons at the ready while Yong and Dooley watched over the flight crew. Averez made short work of the outer door, a moment later the seal of the shelter opened with a hiss revealing what appeared to be a security station. Upon entering Frost, Gibson, and Averez systematically searched and cleared the small building before signaling the flight crew and their protectors inside. After setting _J5_ to scan for life signs, Sergeant Averez set to work cracking into the facility's network.

"I'm in, looks like the system went into idle stand by."

"What the hell, they leave and forget to turn off the lights?" Dooley asked.

"Corporations like Exogeni are way to resource minded to just walk away from a facility like this. Something bad happened here for the power to have been left on when they bugged out." Chief Yong replied.

"Ok, I've got a line on the communications room, systems diagnostic says the dish power capacitors were manually disabled. Someone shut the comms down intentionally before this place went dark."

Averez continued scouring the facility's computer system, he confirmed the it was indeed an ExoGeni research site. The facility also provided logistical support for the mining complex that the other pod's crew had sought refuge within. The systems heavy encryption on sensitive files was keeping the engineer from uncovering the true nature of their research; with such measures in place he knew it would be something interesting.

"I've never seen a small facility like this with this level of security before. It'll take some time to get full access."

Frost was less concerned with what ExoGeni was up to out here and more with whether or not they had left anything useful. "Just find me something we can use."

Averez settled into silent concentration as he expertly hacked his way through the corporate computer system. "Looks like getting comms back online shouldn't be too hard, so long as whoever disabled the capacitors didn't take them anywhere. Oh, well look at this. Looks like the large building in the middle of the complex is a hanger, manifest shows three corporate transports currently signed in.

With this new discovery Spirits were instantly lifted. Frost wasted no time as he immediately started issuing orders.

"Nami and Gibs with me, we'll head to the comm room and see if we can get it back online before we check out the hanger. Averez and dooley will stay here with the others; I want everything you can get from this system. Nami's right, something here doesn't feel right." The scrambled message and abandoned state of the complex coming to the fore of the Major's mind.

The trio stepped out of the security building onto the main walkways of the complex, the comm building was easily identified by the large dish perched on its roof. To its left near the center of the circular arrangement of structures sat the building that had to be the hanger judging from the way it dwarfed its neighbors. The camouflaged coverings the buildings where sheathed in to break up their outlines giving the facility the look of an ancient tribal village, albeit massive in comparison, the effect still held true.

As the Major was mentally cataloging his surrounding Sergeant Averez's voice crackled in his ear piece. "I'm sending the facility's layout to your Omnis now, looks like the comm room is only accessible through the security substation in the building labeled "Phase Two Labs"."

"Any Luck figuring out what they were up to out here?" Frost asked.

"Not yet, I've been in a lot of corporate systems but I've never seen any with this level of encryption. I'm doing a dump just in case I can't crack this."

"Just do what you can."

"Copy that, Major"

With the map of the complex received, the three marines began making their way toward the way point on their HUDs labeled "Phase Two Labs".

Sergeant Gibson's grip on his heavy machine gun visibly tightened as he caught sight of the bloody hand prints and claw marks next to the doors entry interface. Chief Yong didn't seem the least bit phased by it as she set to work on the lock.

"We're seeing blood here, how's it coming cracking that encryption?" Frost tone was cool and collected.

"I've got full access but most of the files still have secondary encryption, I've got enough to know they were playing around with some nano tech light years beyond anything I've ever heard of. And I keep seeing references to the "Devices" whatever the hell that means, the rest is technical babble so far beyond me I wouldn't know where to start." Averez answered sounding a bit defeated despite his success cracking the security.

"_J5_ got anything on scanners?" Frost asked

"Far as he can tell the place is a ghost town"

"Ok, have Dooley lock that place down, nothing in or out till I give the ok."

After receiving Kail's affirmative the Major turned his attention back to the door, after a moment Nami's omni tool beeped confirming the lock had been bypassed. Stepping inside the small airlock, Nami reached to activate the inner door's release when there was a heavy thud from the other side that caused all of them to jump back with a start.

"You sure _J5_ ain't due for a tune up egghead, we've defiantly got movement over here." Gibson asked with a bit of hostility.

"He's too far from you for motion but I've only got three life signs, so unless one of you died on the way over, I'd say he's doing fine." Averez replied trying not to let Gibson get to knew it was just the tension getting the best of him.

The three marines held weapons at the ready, the men stacking at either side of the door while Nami prepared to activate the release. With an almost undetectable nod Frost gave the go. The door's two halves swooshed open to reveal a room so dark they could see only what the broken shaft of light from the entryway hit. Entering the room, the squad realized immediately why they had seen so little. The entryway led into a small waiting area that was totally devoid of features. With their omni tools flashlight functions activated the marines scanned the small room, the only features that stood out were the blood stains covering the walls and floor. The room was apparently a security check point as was evident from the single door with a large scanner set before it against the back wall. The squad continued across the small room looking for any sign of what could have caused the sound they had heard. As Frost swept his rifle back and forth he caught a flash of movement from beyond the doorway. Picking up on his reaction Yong's pistol was trained on the opening as frost and Gibson repeated their ritual of stacking each side of their objective. They once again entered a room that appeared empty, as their lights pierced the black of the room they saw that both sides were lined with lab tables and beds. The beds were in various states of disarray but nonetheless empty; the lab tables looked no better than the beds but were still covered with data pads, testing supplies, and various hand written notes. As they moved further into the room Gibson suddenly swung around with his weapon trained on a bed he had thought he saw movement near. As the marines focused on the offending bed a ragged moan sounded from the far end of the room, as one they brought their lights and weapons up to reveal what could only be described as the undead.

Glowing pulsing tubes protruded out from under the skin at irregular intervals from neck to feet. The skin of what appeared to have at one time been a human being was now a sickly bluish grey color covering the abomination standing before them. The husk bared its diseased looking teeth and released a blood curdling scream as it lunged forward. There was no need for an order as all three soldiers opened up dropping the husk instantly. Before the body hit the ground, the bed Gibson had originally been focused on flew from its resting place revealing another monster. As the squad turned their attention to the new threat, the door the first husk had appeared through exploded with a legion of the creatures.

….

"What the hell are you playing with over there, Jen?"

Corporal Dooley had a tendency to become side tracked, normally she kept it in check during missions but Sergeant Averez knew being locked in this security shack would bring it out.

"Your just jealous cause I got a new visor." The Corporal had removed her helmet and was setting the eye piece in place as she spoke.

"She always so…Bubbly on missions?"

While Averez had been working the navigation officer had grown curious and decided to come take a look.

"I Think it's a coping mechanism, we all got'em."

"So what's yours Sergeant?" The navigator asked.

"As long as I got something to hack, I'm good."

"Holy shit, tell me why this HUDs got Cerberus logos everywhere." Dooley said.

She tossed the visor to Averez, smoothly catching the devise he flipped it and lined the eye piece up bringing the distinctive symbol of the rouge organization into view.

"Well that explains the security, wonder what their hiding out here." Averez said tossing the visor back.

As the tech went back to work on the computer, the two females broke into a quiet conversation between themselves. On the other side of the room Captain Fallon and the other two flight officers held their own conversation, the Captain had steadily been coming out of her stupor since setting off from the camp site.

The sounds of gunfire brought all conversations to a screeching halt.

….

The battle had quickly shifted from the marines cutting down the charging hoard of husks with controlled weapons fire to close quarter's melee combat, the size of the room and general lack of suitable cover leaving no other options. Over a dozen of the monsters already lay twitching on the floor as Chief Yong twisted through the air catching the head of one charging zombie between her thighs. Locking her ankles while her body continued its graceful spin, the husk's feet left the ground to the sound of a grotesque snap. As Nami's feet met solid ground the beast landed feet away, neck hanging at a horrific angle. Her hands and feet flashed out with lightning speed catching another husk repeatedly in the face, throat, and sternum, but blows that would have dropped a living opponent only staggered the undead monster in front of her.

"Killing blows!" Frost shouted over the comm.

It was the only assistance he could afford to give at the moment. His arm was pulled back, tensed to strike with omni-blade at the ready. As his full attention came back to the twisted creature beneath him, his fist came down hard, driving the blade deep into the mutated flesh. Before he could extract the blade from the husk's chest he was solidly tackled from his left side, rolling with the blow the Major came up on top of his assailant. Dark energy began to wisp around the Majors form violently as he brought his fist down landing the bioticly enhanced blow squared in the husk's face.

Having heard Frost Nami shifted tactics, omni-tool flashing out in an instant alive with electrical current. She seemed to flow like water around the creature, once behind it twin Prongs flipped from the tools sides giving it a deadly edge. With a hard thrust the twin Prongs punched through the husk's back while sending waves of electricity coursing through the creature's synthetic veins.

The squad's combat tactics tended to place Gibson at the rear of the formations, so the push made by the husks hadn't forced him into melee combat. Instead, the heavy gunner continued pouring rounds from his _Revenant_ machine gun through the door the creatures were entering, as his thermal clip reached capacity silence fell upon the room. The only remaining sounds being the heavy panting from the three soldiers. Their loss of breath had less to do with fatigue and more with the adrenaline surging through their veins. Despite the fighting for their lives, this is what Frost lived for; combat was when he felt he was truly alive.

Retrieving his rifle from under one of the overturned bed, Frost took stock of the situation. They were all still in one piece, the Comm room was behind the next door and they no longer had an undead Hoard trying to tear their throats out; things seemed to be looking up.

"Major, Chief, anybody, you guys still with us?" Corporal Dooley's voice slowly broke through their adrenaline induced haze.

"Calm down Jen, we're still here." Nami answered to ease the Corporals mind.

"Averez, pack it in and head for the hanger. But keep your eyes open, we found those zombie things Bridges's crew was talking about" Frost ordered.

"Your shitin me right Major. I thought you guys ran into a Cerberus squad or something" Averez responded.

"Cerberus, what have they got to do with this?"

"Don't know sir, but Jen found some of their gear here in the security shack."

"Ok, we're heading into the Comm building now; we'll meet you outside the hanger."

After receiving Averez's affirmative Frost, Yong, and Gibson proceeded into the Comm building. They quickly discovered that the communication array was beyond their ability to repair. Not only were the capacitors removed but the control console was smashed beyond repaire. The couplers that connected the capacitors to the communications array were noting but ragged frayed wires, the connectors still attached to the tops of the discarded capacitors.

"Comms a no go, moving to hanger now. We'll try to reach Bridges once we're in the air." Frost ended the transmission and lead his team back the way they had come.

The two teams regrouped behind an abandoned rover in front of the hanger's large doors. As they moved toward the buildings personnel door Averez headed for the control interface and set to work. The panel turned green granting them access as Frost and Gibson took up their customary positions.

"What can _J5_ tell me about this hanger?"

"Well surprise, no life signs. But motions going nuts Major, at least twenty different sources." Averez replied.

"If these are the same things from the labs, just keep em at a distance and we'll be fine." Frost looked to the flight crew with their shaking weapons in hand. "Just stay close, we'll take care of the hard part."

With that said Frost signaled Sergeant Averez with a nod, the door slid open to reveal yet another dark room. The team filed in with lights lit, scanning the area before them for any hazards.

"All that time you were playing in their systems and you couldn't turn on the lights?"

Dooley's attempt at easing the tension fell flat as a horrific moan sounded from high above them. As their lights rose higher they could see the creatures climbing the catwalks and jumping from one support beam to another above their heads.

"What the fuck are they waiting for?"

It was as if they were waiting for just that moment, because as the words left Gibson's lips the husks opened their mouths wide releasing ear splitting screams and began falling to the ground.


	5. Chapter 4

**_Author's notes: Mass Effect, Mass Effect 2, Mass Effect 3 and all related characters and trademarks are property of EA/Bioware. Rated M for language, violence and suggestive themes._**

**Chapter 4-Sacrifice**

The monsters descended upon Frost's team, the horde of creatures surging toward the marines looked as if they had come straight out of a nightmare. Her childlike features twisted into a strained grimace as Corporal Dooley's body lit up like a star, waves of biotic energy began to pulse around her from the power she was preparing to release. With a grunt of effort her arms shot straight up and a glowing, shifting mass of dark energy materialized directly above the group. The singularity pulled the falling husks from the air in groups, trapping them in the churning gravitational forces. As the singularity neared the limits of what it could hold, there was a flash of blue and a second orb of energy streaked skyward. The two forces collided in spectacular fashion; a deep resonating boom preceded the shockwave that sent bodies flying in all directions at breakneck velocities. Frost and Dooley's combined biotic display had cleared the space directly above them allowing the squad to focus on the remaining enemy approaching at eye level. The Spec. Ops team fell into a rhythm, sending controlled bursts of fire at the clusters of beasts, ensuring that there would never be a lull in fire due to reloading for their enemy to capitalize on. As the marines took control of the situation, the flight crew sought cover behind a cluster of shipping crates near the hanger's door and began laying down supporting fire.

With each deep boom of Sergeant Averez's Saber Battle rifle, a head exploded into a mess of grey matter. Kail was as much a marksman as he was a tech expert. He continued to drop husk, one with each discharge of his rifle, as _J5 _zipped through the growing hoard leaving several abominations convulsing from the powerful current he was unleashing. Each creature that tensed and stood in place lost its head instantly to the engineer, combat drone duo.

The shockwave from Gibson's concussive shot flattened a group of charging husk. Before they had a chance to regain their footing, rounds from Gibson's rifle were joined by that of the hiding fight crew, pounding the prone creatures till they were oozing piles of blue paste.

Nami made her way toward her own set of shipping crates opposite the ones the flight crew were occupying, however the Chief's intended use of said crates was far different. She approached them at full tilt; placing one foot solidly on the first crate, she bounded directly to the top of the stack. Once atop the containers, she made leaping the twelve foot span to the sturdy metal catwalk look effortless. The narrow pathway was occupied by husk, but only a handful, the rest hurtling the railings or charging down the stairs intent on assaulting the squad below. The first husk to reach her flew head over heels as Yong shifted her weight just before releasing her grip on its boney wrist, allowing the creature to free fall to the hanger floor far below. The next caught the stock of her sniper rifle across the jaw, causing it to follow the first over the railing, as the rifle unfolded. A blind shot exited a massive hole in the third husk's head as her Mantis reached its full length. With the catwalk now empty Nami ejected her thermal clip and trained her weapon on the main floor of the hanger, disappearing in a shimmer of light.

Despite having little actual combat experience, the flight crew was doing a commendable job supporting the Spec Ops team. Their shots were well timed and controlled, not the panicked blind fire the squad had be expecting. Captain Fallon seemed to have discovered her fight or flight instinct, and it appeared that the fight had won out. All evidence of her previous catatonic state now gone, she shouldered an Avenger assault rifle firing tight controlled burst into the rush of mutated bodies.

The squad's two biotic members had settled into a one-two combo tactic that was proving extremely effective; Dooley priming the targets while Frost supplied the explosive conclusion. From the start, the Major knew Dooley would never be able to maintain putting up singularities at the pace required to quell the flood of husks coming their way, fortunately the Corporal knew her own limitations and had switched to firing warp blast into the throngs of monsters. Though this tactic was less effective at crowd control, the results were impressive nonetheless.

_J5 _had been correct about movement being present in the hanger; unfortunately the estimate of twenty contacts within had been a gross understatement. To Frost it seemed that the entire population of the facility had to have been mutated into the twisted creatures, adding their numbers to the many test specimen that were believed to be under control, and now the multitude of husks was pressing in on his squad.

There was a loud crack as the head of a husk Frost hadn't noticed approaching from his left exploded covering his armor in bluish gore.

Nodding his thanks to Nami, The Major's omni tool lit up. "Averez, third ship. Get that ramp down now!"

After barking the order, Frost's biotics flared once more. His hand shoot forward wreathed in energy, a pulsing ball of energy flashed out catching a husk near the transport square in the chest. The force of the attack sent the creature barreling into a group of its brethren, sprawling them all out on the ground. The flight crew, maintaining their supporting action quickly, put an end to their struggle to regain their footing.

While Frost was giving orders, Corporal Dooley had been forced to unload a full thermal clip into a large group of husk, her biotics beginning to lose their kick due to over use. The husk took full advantage of the lull in biotic attacks; a group had managed to flank her position while safe from the marine's onslaught. Before Jenifer could react, one of the creatures was on her back sinking its teeth into her armor plating. The pressure of the bite was so great it actually cracked the plate, leaving behind jagged teeth marks. She felt the pressure increase as a second husk landed, the added weight bearing her to the ground. As she struggled desperately to push herself back upright, pain exploded in her neck. The second husk found the soft area between the top of her chest piece and helmet and tore its head back, causing a spray of blood to escape the Corporals ruined throat.

"JENNN!"

Even from up on the catwalk the squad and flight crew heard Nami's scream over the staccato of weapons fire. The infiltrator fired shots at a rate one would think impossible for a Mantis rifle. As the bodies fell away the still form of Dooley could be seen writhing in a growing pool of blood, the wet gurgle sounding over the comm channel giving evidence to the severity of her injury.

"Averez, ramp now! Gibson, get those hanger doors open. Nami, maintain over watch." He paused briefly and softening his tone. "I need you to keep it together N7."

There were no audible acknowledgements from the squad as they each moved to carry out their individual assignments.

Frost rushed to where Dooley lay bleeding out, covering the short distance while maintaining a blistering rate of fire. Reaching the corporal he unceremoniously threw her over his shoulder in a firemen's Carry. The clip of his Avenger assault rifle reached capacity, but with him supporting Dooley's limp form over his back, ejecting the magazine was impossible. The throng of husks had thinned considerably but the group was still horribly outnumbered. As the Major made his way toward his selected ship he motioned for the flight crew to follow. There wasn't the slightest hesitation as the four officers hurtled their cover and in seconds were at his side, weapons sweeping the room. Even the injured pilot, with his arm in a sling, was firing his pistol frantically trying to clear their path. Three identical ships bearing white and gold paint and the distinctive logo of Cerberus sat in the hanger, two with their boarding ramps lowered and long bloody trails leading inside. Frost had seen this when he selected the third sealed craft, thinking it held the least chance for surprises. Though he did love combat, he still knew when enough was enough.

The ramp to their last hope for escape began lowering just as frost was drawing near; he fired a biotic throw, the blast hurled a husk that was closing on Averez into the ship's thick landing strut with a wet metallic smack. Handing Dooley over to the engineer, Frost gave him orders to secure the vessel and get her engines online.

With that he turned to the flight crew. "Lieutenant, help Averez with start up. The rest of you do what you can for Dooley, But don't remove her suit until we seal the hatch." Frost didn't want the flight crew to forget that they were on a planet with a hostile environment in their haste to aid the corporal.

With his rifle spent Frost removed his Carnifex heavy pistol from his hip and opened fire as he activated his omni tool.

"Gibs, what's up with my doors?"

"Give me a sec Major; these things are all over me."

As Gibson finished his statement a loud crack was heard, Chief Yong then acrobatically flipped over the catwalk railing returning to ground level.

"That's it, my rifles empty." She called out knowing Frost would want an explanation as to why she wasn't following his order to keep them covered from above.

"Ok, get over here. We'll cover Gibson till he's done."

Nami slid in at his side and the two N7s proceeded to mop up the few clusters of husks that remained. A mechanical grinding noise signaled the parting of the heavy hanger doors, and as they opened a new rush of husks poured in. Apparently the firefight had attracted more of the beast that had been elsewhere in the facility. As they rushed into the hanger, the vast majority of the monsters went straight for Gibson's control room.

"Gibs, get the hell outta there NOW!" Nami shouted, not wanting to see another squad mate fall.

"Nowhere to go… Sorry Sticks, you guys are gonna have to go without me."

Gibson shut down his comm when he finished knowing Nami's frantic pleading would only make his decision harder. They needed to move and couldn't waste time trying to get him out; He knew his fate had been sealed the second the mob of husks surged up the stairs. He fired a concussive shot to buy a little time while he primed the six grenades on his bandoleer. A smile crept across his face as he noticed that the husk seemed to be obsessively intent on getting to him, only a small number of the new arrivals seemed interested in the ship.

There was an enormous boom, as all the glass in the control room rained down across the hanger.

Frost grabbed Nami by the wrist just as she was breaking for the stairs to the control room; he wrapped his arms around her, forcing her struggling form up the ramp. Reaching the top he struck the panel that raised the ramp and sealed the ship for flight.

Once inside Frost saw Dooley laying flat on her back, the Captain was just beginning to remove her helmet to start working to save her. Approaching the front of the vessel, Frost motioned the injured pilot out of his seat; he wouldn't be much help in his current condition. Averez sat solemn and silent in the copilot's seat; he had seen Gibson's dramatic sacrifice unfold through the ship's viewports. With the only sound being the pounding fist of husk on the hull, the two Spec Ops marines brought the ship up and out of the hanger. Slamming the throttles forward, Frost set course for the second pod's crash site.

….

The sleek ship blazed through Trebin's upper atmosphere bound for the cold black of space. The Major was impressed at the way the small ship handled; he was familiar with the design, having flown similar crafts many times before. However this particular ship seemed a bit different from the others. The small skiffs had been in service since before the _FIRST CONTACT WAR_, primarily acting as personal transports for VIPs and High ranking military officers. Over the years they had been modified and upgraded, but the core of the vessel had remained the same. Twin wings hugged the fuselage, the rear ends of each housing massive exhaust nozzles tucked close to the hull. A second, slightly smaller exhaust port hung just a little lower and to the side of the first, giving the rear of the ship an arching profile. The body of the ship appeared tiny in comparison to its wings; the passenger section of the craft was shaped like an elongated oval that had been flattened on each end. The wide wings and fuselage together gave the ship a silhouette that resembled an arrow head with a split down its center.

Frost had never flown a _T-211_ _Skip Ray_ with this kind of power and acceleration; the ship had nearly gotten the better of him twice now since leaving the hanger. The first time had been as they streaked over the mining complex the second pod's crew had sought refuge within. As the Major went to bank the vessel to bring it around for a second pass over the site, he hadn't been prepared for how responsive the ship would be. In his attempt to correct his small misjudgment he over compensated throwing the ship into a tight spin, with Averez's help he managed to regain control before they slammed into the mountain side the mine was dug into. On the third pass, with the ship firmly under his control, Frost gazed upon the evidence he sought. He had seen the bodies the first time he'd flown over the site, but was unable to identify any affiliation. Now he saw the masses of grey corpses littering the ground, the second group hadn't gone down without a fight. That brought a small smile to his lips. But the ten bodies in various states of dismemberment made it painfully clear who had won the day. Seeing that, Frost pointed the ship skyward and blazed away. Shortly into the accent the ship blasted through a turbulent patch of air causing the Major to adjust his course. The Adjustment was far more than what was necessary and the ship began to noise over. This time however frost wasn't so surprised and quickly regained control without assistance.

Pale thin clouds gave way to inky black, as they left Trebin behind. Frost relaxed a little, setting the VI to pilot the ship toward the relay at the edge of the system. He spun his chair around catching sight of Nami huddled on a chair in the passenger compartment; her face was buried in her knees. Under an emergency blanket in the middle of the walkway lay Jenifer Dooley. With the limited emergency supplies they had on hand, there had been little the flight crew could do for her. Dooley had been the squad's Field medic, but Frost doubted whether she would have been able to handle an injury such as the one she had sustained if the circumstances were different, given the lack of resources.

The Chief hadn't moved from her seat or said a word since the young solider had flat lined. Frost knew Nami was blaming herself for Dooley's death. She had taken it upon herself to watch over the younger woman since their friendship had blossomed. Despite the fact that Jenifer had been a powerful biotic, Nami had grown to consider her as the little sister that she needed to protect. In her mind she should have been faster or maybe more attentive to the situation. Whatever the case, Nami felt she should have done more. Then losing Gibson in the fashion they had, was another painful blow. Though they all knew he had chosen his fate, it just didn't seem fair that he and Jen had made it so far just to come up short at the finish.

The ship continued its course for the relay as its occupants settled in for the flight back to a safe haven. Sergeant Averez had vacated the copilot's seat in favor of the one beside Nami. He was currently providing her a supportive shoulder as they silently contemplated the event of the past couple of days.

Frost found that he was relatively alone in the cockpit. As he stared out the view port, images of Gibs and Jen came forcing their way to the fore of his mind. Frost tended to handle death differently than most. He never allowed himself to dwell on what could have been, or blame himself for thing outside his ability to change. Instead he always made a silent vow to avenge the lost lives. This time would be no different; he would make the Reapers pay for every life lost aboard **_Pearl Harbor_**. And he would hunt down every twisted bastard within Cerberus even remotely tied to the abominations on Trebin. For Gibson and Dooley, he would watch as the life slowly ebbed from their heartless eyes.

His internal deliberation was interrupted as Captain Fallon took the copilots seat beside him, her guilt and shame unmistakable just behind her eyes.

"I…I wanted to say, I'm sorry…and thank you."

Frost turned to look her square in the eyes. Captain Fallon was a beautiful woman, her pale skin and fiery red hair affording her a youthful look even though she was well into her late forties. The life of a flag officer commanding her own ship was not physically demanding, nevertheless Fallon was remarkably lean and fit. She sported the figure of a woman half her age, and she took painstaking care to maintain it.

Before being placed under Fallon's command Frost had heard all the rumors. The popular opinion of the Capitan had been that she had been placed on a pedestal, being handed rank and high profile, low risk assignments throughout her career in order to gain favors from her influential family. Fallon was a member of a dynasty that had been at the forefront of technologic innovation for the past seventy years. The patriarch of the Fallon family had years ago decreed that in order to gain their place within the family's hierarchy members were required to serve time in the Alliance military. Despite the initial pressure to join up, Allana had found the accommodating nature of Alliance brass refreshing in comparison to her family's ever growing list of expectations. Over the years she had actually started to believe she had truly earned and deserved the station she had attained.

Frost, having been the topic of similar sentiments early on in his career, had been willing to reserve judgment of the Captain. Admiral Jackson and Captain Timothy Frost had been Carver's Predecessors in the Alliance military. The former his grandfather and the latter his father, it was thought that Carver's advancement and assignments where due to his progenitors legendary service records. In Frost's case, his skill and combat prowess quickly stomped out any doubt about the merits of his promotions.

On the other hand Fallon had shown from their first outing as a command team that she would rely heavily on Frost whenever the situation was anything but straight forward and ideal. Up until this recent incident it had never really been an issue, most of their missions had Frost on the ground, and when they had seen ship to ship action he actually enjoyed the freedom to give suggestions as he saw fit. Now after losing all but seven members of their crew he felt just as at fault. He should have brought it to someone's attention that he had little confidence in his Captain.

He took his time mulling over how he would respond, he never disliked Fallon, just the fact that she should not have been the ships commanding officer.

"You don't need to apologize to me. I'm gonna be honest with you, from day one I've known you had no business commanding the **_Pearl_**. The fact that I never took any action makes me just as much at fault as you." He paused until her eyes meet his again. "Right now we move forward and make sure we never make the same mistakes again."

She looked to be considering what he said when she responded. "I know what people say, and a lot of it may be true. But I always intended to do right by my crew. I'm just sorry that when it truly mattered, all I could do was get in the way. You may not want my apologies, but while I crumbled like a child, you did what was needed. So I say again, I'm sorry and thank you."

Frost held her gaze for a moment longer before turning back to the view port. "I just did my job. Make sure you can do yours from here on out."

The Captain lowered her head with a sigh before rising from her seat.

As she started for the passenger compartment she stopped, deep sadness in her eyes, and said. "Major… I am sorry about Corporal Dooley, and Sergeant Gibson."

With that she left the Major alone, he attempted to make himself comfortable for their trip back to Alliance territory. The Major started to doze off just as an indicator on the console before him started beeping. Opening his eyes he saw the relay looming in the distance just off the port side of the ship. After setting his vectors and confirming their course the ship was catapulted through the relay in a flash of blue energy.

…

The ship exited the relay in the Utopia system of the Exodus cluster. The system had five planets, one of which was Eden Prime; one of humanity's most famous colonies. After connecting to one of the comm. buoys in the system, Frost repeatedly failed in his attempts to reach Alliance command at Arcturus station. The Major adjusted the comm. frequency in an attempt to reach the Alliance Garrison that he knew should be posted on Eden Prime.

Before he could activate the comm., ships began appearing on his sensors from the relay. The cockpit speakers burst to life with frantic transmissions from the flock of incoming vessels. Frost hands flew over his console trying his best to isolate the signal so he could decipher the incoherent babble. Averez, having noticed the activity, took his position in the copilot's seat. In seconds the engineer had a single crisp, clear signal coming in over their radio.

"This is **_MSV-Odin's Venture_**, anyone receiving? Eden Prime control, do you read me?"

As the Major brought the ship around to get a look at the congregation of ships Averez opened the comm.

"This is Major Carver Frost, Alliance Navy. What's the situation? Where'd you all come from?"

"Earth…Major, these monsters. They…they're everywhere. Killing everything."

With that testimony and the damage he saw dominating the hulls of most of the newly arrived ships; Frost knew exactly what had happened.

"Unidentified Cerberus vessel, power down and prepare to be boarded." The voice on the comm. was stern and left no doubt that they meant business.

A battered Alliance frigate was approaching directly ahead of them.

"Repeat, power down or we will open fire."

"This is Major Carver Frost of the **_Pearl Harbor_**, we encountered an unknown hostile two days ago near the Batarian border, and the **_Pearl Harbor_** was destroyed. My team commandeered this ship from a Cerberus facility on Trebin, we are not hostile."

"You'll have to forgive me Major, but you know I can't take your word on that."

Captain Fallon slid into the seat behind Sergeant Averez and began to speak. "This is Captain Allana Fallon, we will not power down. If you're running from the same things that took out the **_Pearl_** then there is no way were going to just sit out here defenseless." She began to type at the console before her. "I'm sending our emergency authentication codes now, that's the best we can do."

After a short moment the comm. crackled. "Authentications received, welcome back Captain."

…

The small flotilla of ships ranging from shuttles to large freighters made their way toward Eden Prime. When they had arrived in orbit over the planet, Frost docked the Cerberus craft with the **_Yorktown_**. The Alliance frigate had sustained heavy damage during its escape from the Sol system, but her Captain had decided to meet with Frost and Fallon before landing on the planet for repairs.

Frost and Fallon had spent the past hour recounting their encounter with the Reaper dreadnought and the following ordeal on Trebin. The **_Yorktown_**'s command team had then given them the rundown on what had happened on Earth. Frost had known their time was up when they had first laid eyes on the Reaper two days prior. He hadn't however, been prepared to discover that nearly the entirety of Earth's military might had been powerless against the enemy. Captain Tillman, the _**Yorktown**_'s commanding officer had apprised them of his plans to complete critical repairs and then head for the Citadel as soon as possible.

Before Frost was able to exit the briefing room, Tillman pulled him aside. "If I'd heard your story twelve hours ago I'd have tossed you in a straight jacket and tagged you Cat-Six. But after what we've seen…I just don't know how we can fight them, let alone beat them."

Frost's reply came without hesitation. "These bastards killed my men. Someone owes me a debt, and they're damn sure gonna pay up."

After refueling, Major Frost and Sergeant Averez piloted the _Skip Ray _toward the mass relay once more. Alliance brass had given orders for all ships to avoid the Sol system until further notice. With ships regrouping at the citadel, Frost had a feeling that the quickest way into this fight was going to be through the Serpent Nebula.


	6. Chapter 5

******_Author's notes: Mass Effect, Mass Effect 2, Mass Effect 3 and all related characters and trademarks are property of EA/Bioware. Rated M for language, violence and suggestive themes._**

**Chapter-5 The new guys**

A week had passed since the team had arrived at the Citadel; Dooley's body had been turned over to Alliance officials for a proper burial the moment they boarded the station. Everyone knew there would be no time to attend the official ceremony. With the Reapers laying waste to the galaxy, Alliance command wanted all hands on deck. Because of this, the three Spec. Ops marines held their own memorial for Gibson and Dooley at _Purgatory_, the flashy new bar that had popped up on the station.

Frost had been told that command wasn't going to give them much time to rest. With their skill set and the _**Saving Grace**_ at their disposal, they had been ordered to take on a few odd jobs. Nami had suggested the new name for the _SkipRay_ while Averez had been reprogramming its IFF with new identification codes. Before heading out on their assignments there had been a few things Frost had wanted to take care of, the _SkipRay_'s paint had been stripped to the primer; no one would take them for Cerberus again. He also needed a new omnitool, in their haste to escape the _**Pearl Harbor**_ Frost's primary omni tool had been left behind. After dropping a few names at Alliance supply the Major now had a brand new HMOT Master Series omni tool. The device had been loaded with the Alliance's new Paladin combat package. Frost had also found time to give command his recommendation for Sergeant Averez's N7 certification, which was immediately signed off on. The engineer now sported the designation across his chest like his other squad members.

The first task they had been given was to retrieve Intel packages containing data from the Battle for Arcturus station. The Reapers had apparently moved on so the mission was largely uneventful. The second had been to rescue the Systems Alliance liaison to the Turian military; his transport had sustained damage fleeing Turian controlled space. The Crew of _**Saving Grace**_ had found the small ship drifting through space on emergency power. The Squad hadn't been given a new assignment after returning with the Alliance rep. Rumor had it that something big was going down, Frost didn't doubt it, the number of Turian soldier filtering onto the station seemed to increase by each passing day.

Taking full advantage of their new found down time, Frost had greased some palms over at the maintenance docks. _**Saving Grace **_had received a fresh mat black paint job; the starboard wing had been adorned with two deep red stripes boarded in white running its width. Centered between the stripes, set against the black background sat a matching red N7 logo. Frost had originally planned to put up the credits for the paint job out of his own pocket. Alliance requisitions had told him that ships like _**Saving Grace**_ where not very high on the acquisitions list; if he wanted he could officially take possession of the craft. It would keep a load of paperwork off their desks and all he would have to do was file for a salvage title. Frost wasn't one to turn down fancy toys; he quickly signed the data pad taking possession of the ship. Before he could settle the bill with the maintenance workers for the paint a message came across his omni tool. The Alliance rep. they had rescued from Turian space had covered the bill and also pulled some strings and set the squad up with a substantial line of credit. Despite the new found financing, the Major had decided to dip into his own funds to purchase some new gear. He had ordered a new Ariake Technologies chest piece, shoulder pauldrons, and gauntlets along with Armax Arsenal greaves and armored combat boots. He also noticed a salvaged Cerberus armor set as he browsed the kiosk. Frost wasn't interested in the armor its self, just the helmet. He ordered all the new equipment pieces to be painted black with the N7 logos and blood stripe in their customary positions.

Sergeant Averez had been spending his spare time fiddling with _**Saving Grace **_'s systems. He and _J5_ were doing their best to scrub all the Cerberus surveillance programs infesting the ship's computers. During his tinkering he discovered a multitude of extras he hadn't noticed before, from the dozens of listening devices to the remote systems overrides. He'd also found that some of the extras would prove useful for the squad, an advanced tactical scanning array, electronic counter measures, sensor jammers, and ultraviolet defense lasers. He couldn't believe how much tech Cerberus had packed under the hood.

Despite outward appearances Kail was taking Gibson's death pretty hard. The two marines had developed an antagonistic friendship over their time serving together. Averez had always given Gibson a hard time about his strong silent type personality, Lurch and Chewy were among his favorite nicknames for the large marine. He was probably the only person on the ship that actually got full sentences out of Gibson. To the casual eye the two looked as though they were constantly at each other's throats, but the brotherly bond they had formed ran deep. The countless hours Averez had been spending on the _**Saving Grace **_were clearly less about maintaining the ship than keeping his mind off his grief.

Frost and Averez had barely seen Chief Yong when they were off duty; she seemed to be avoiding all human contact if it wasn't necessary. Most of Nami's time was spent at the Alliance fitness facility; she would work out for hours on end, performing a rigorous training regimen. She would start with several Katas, the movements and body positions so ingrained in her that there was no need to think. She normally followed up with a swim, then to the weight room. On a few occasions she had found sparing partners that didn't mind that she wasn't in the talking mood. None had possessed enough skill to require her true focus in the ring, but it kept her mind from dwelling on darker thoughts. One day Frost found her hiding spot. She had a feeling that he would eventually come looking, he always gave her time to deal with situations like these on her own before trying to comfort her in his own awkward kind of way. Despite how uncomfortable he always seemed when trying to be sensitive, it always managed to lift Nami's spirits, even if only slightly.

Alliance billeting was quickly filling up with displaced soldiers so Frost had invited his squad to bunk at the small apartment he kept on the station. Most of his time was spent on ships, so the place was rarely used. The only furnishings were the king sized bed in his master bedroom, the wrap around couch in the living area, and two enormous vid screens. There was also a small desk and rollaway bed in the spare bedroom. On the desk was the only photo in the small apartment, it was of a Beautiful woman with dark skin and exotic features holding an infant in a loving embrace. The cherished picture of his deceased mother was the only decoration Frost had ever taken the time to add. His cabinets had all the essential dishes and utensils but the shelves of the food storage unit were devoid of anything other than beer, bottled water, and energy drinks. Frost had repeatedly promised to get some groceries, but they never seemed to make it home with him. He was not the domestic type. Eventually Nami had enough of his excesses and went shopping herself. When she was done, the Major had a five hundred credit bill waiting on his account at the Alliance commissary. She knew Frost wouldn't mind, the man had more money than he knew what to do with and he rarely spent any. With his only real expenses being the apartment and an extensive weapons collection, over his years in the Alliance, Frost had accrued a substantial nest egg.

The squad was seated around the small card table Frost had dug out of his storage unit finishing off a home cooked meal, courtesy of Nami. As the trio sat enjoying friendly conversation, Frost's omni tool began buzzing, silently informing him that a message was incoming.

Placing his knife and fork on his plate, his omni tool lit up accepting the incoming signal.

"This is Frost, go ahead."

"Major, this is Lieutenant Hill. Admiral Lorenzo is requesting your presence at the Alliance command center."

"Understood, I'll be there within the hour." His curiosity spiked. "Any idea what this is about lieutenant?"

"Sorry Major, I'm not at liberty to say."

With that, the transmission ended and Frost rose from his seat.

"Guess we're finally going back out." Averez stated.

"Don't know, But word has it that Victus is gearing up the Turians for something big."

Frost had heard that Shepard had rescued the new Primarch, but wasn't being kept in the loop about future operations.

"Whatever it is, we'll find out soon enough. I'll call when I can. And Kail, if you drink all my beer this time I'm gonna have you cleaning shitters over in the Elcor district for a week."

Averez cringed at the thought as Frost headed into his room to change.

There was a quiet knock at his door, before he could respond it quickly slid open then back closed. Nami stood leaning against his door frame staring at the floor. She'd had something on her mind when she entered but now, all she could focus on where the butterflies ravaging her stomach. Though she knew they were just friends, Nami had harbored a crush for Frost for years. But their friendship had grown so much and she hadn't wanted to ruin it, plus there were rules that they were already pushing with their current relationship. So she kept those feelings hidden from him as best she could. But now with him at arm's reach, form sculpted from years of training and combat on display for her, she found it hard to contain herself.

Pulling his shirt over his head Frost turned fully around. Before he could speak Nami lunged forward wrapping him in a tight hug.

"Thanks… for the talk, and… just. I don't know if I could handle los…"

"Stop, don't think like that. As long as we watch each other's backs we'll get through this. Somebody's gonna pay for Gibs and Jen, then we help Shepard kick those mechanical fuckers off our planet. Until we're done, you're stuck with me and don't you forget that.

"Damn Frost, you're so elegant with words." Nami deadpanned.

"Whatever, you were gushing all over me. You know I'm no good with this shit."

He lightly pushed her and she fell dramatically on the large bed as he went back to dressing.

"Sooo, when do I get to go shopping?" Nami asked in a voice so innocent and childlike he couldn't help but smirk as he looked at her.

He'd thought she was beautiful from the day he had first laid eyes on her. Her small athletic frame, silky jet black hair neatly braided down the middle of her back, her large brown eyes that gave clear evidence to her Asian heritage, he found it all enchanting. But Frost knew how dangerous it could be to lose perspective. Once soldiers started mixing business with pleasure, things tended to get messy. Friendship was all they could have as far as he was concerned, and as natural and comfortable as theirs was, Frost had no desire to change things.

"You still owe me for five hundred credits worth of insta-meals and frozen pizzas." Frost replied with the smile still on his face.

Nami liked to see him smile, he rarely did lately.

"Please if it weren't for me, we'd be eating Salarian delivery by now. And if you keep talking then that's the last home cooked meal you'll be getting out of this lady."

"Ok, ok I surrender. Go pick out some stuff while I'm gone. Any standard shit you can bill to the Alliance account and put the extravagant purchases on my personal account. And do try not to wipe me out, please."

His omni tool lit up as he passed, giving hers' access to the accounts.

…

Dressed in his Alliance BDU's with the lightly armored chest plate baring the Systems Alliance logo, his name and his rank, Major Frost took one of the many public skycars to the Presidium. He stepped out to a scene far different than the one he'd left behind on the Tayseri ward. The serene water features, and abundance of greenery where instantly soothing. Frost knew that the plant life around the Citadel was periodically changed, but he was caught off guard when he noticed live birds native to earth flying free around the station. The walk to the Alliance command building was short and after an elevator ride and a long wait in a mundane waiting room Frost had finally been ushered through the doors at the rear of the room. Inside Admiral Alexander Lorenzo, Counselor Donnel Udina, and Lieutenant Commander Landon Patrelli sat behind a large committee style desk.

Frost had heard of Lorenzo, the man was well regarded within the Alliance ranks as a man that got things done. From the way his uniform jacket seemed to lean from the weight of the honorific medals and ribbons adorning it, the Major had no doubt that the man would live up to his reputation.

How could anyone not know who Udina was, the man was now one of the Alliance's most recognizable and influential figures. Frost had never liked Udina even before meeting the man in person, he knew a man hungry for power when he saw one. The politician had look as if he were a kid on Christmas morning the day Admiral Anderson step down as Humanity's representative on the Citadel counsel.

Patrelli was the very same Alliance liaison his team had rescued just days earlier. Frost's first impression had been that he was a decent man, and so far he'd neither seen nor heard anything about the man that contradicted that sentiment. Frost came to attention before the trio, snapping the Admiral a crisp salute.

"At ease Major, have a seat. " Admiral Lorenzo began. "Let's get right to it shall we. There are two main reasons I've called you here…clarification, and a proposal."

After Frost had finished retelling the story of the encounter with the Reaper and the escape from Trebin for the third time since they'd arrived on the station, he was informed of Captain Fallon's resignation. She and the flight crew had stayed aboard the _**Yorktown**_ and had only arrived a few days ago, but the first thing she had done was to tell Alliance command her side of the story of the _**Pearl Harbor**_'s demise. The Captain made it clear that Frost was the only reason any one survived the Reaper attack. The Admiral had then told him of the plan to build a Prothean super weapon. He wasn't forthcoming with any details, but the Major learned that Hackett and Shepard were spearheading the project and that command felt that it was their best hope at stopping the Reapers.

Lorenzo was just about to get to the second reason Frost had been summoned when an imposing Turian wearing a crimson armored suit with gold accents, giving him the look of some grand honor guard, entered the room. He slowly made his way around to the fore of the room stopping in front of the large table, the whole time he walked his gaze was locked on Frost. The Major, never having been one to be intimidated, returned the cold stare keeping his eyes fixed on the large armored alien.

"So this is Frost? I'm not impressed." The armor clad Turian folded his arms over his broad chest as he spoke.

Frost's temper flared in unison with his biotics. He was on his feet in an instant, hands balled in tight fist, radiating anger and biotic power while his eyes remained locked on the Turian.

"Stand down Major." Udina yelled.

Frost remained where he was paying the politician no heed.

"Frost, STAND DOWN NOW."

Admiral Lorenzo's commanding order broke through Frost's growing rage at the arrogance of the newcomer. Calming himself, Frost's biotics pulled back and he took a few deep breaths to center himself.

"Well, well…he just might do." The Turian said in a double toned voice.

After their unorthodox introduction, Frost was formally introduced to General Drakus Aralius of the Turian Hierarchy. He then explained that the Turians had a secret base housing a small fleet of modified ships, and they were in the planning stages for an operation to recover them. With the Reapers on Palaven they were having trouble finding the man power for the mission, and the General had decided to start recruiting.

"If you think your crew is up for it, I think your _SkipRay_ would be ideal for what we have in mind, Major" Aralius finished.

"With all due respect General, I think we'll be able to handle anything you can and then some. But I would like some details before I sign on."

"I'm sorry Major, but until we get a commitment the details must stay…close to the chest. That is what you Humans say, am I correct?"

Ignoring the General's comment Frost considered what he'd recently learned.

"If Alliance command wants us on this, then that's where we'll be."

"I'm glad to hear it Major, there are still some details needing to be ironed out and assets being organized. We estimate around seven to ten days until we'll be ready to deploy. I'll inform you of the time and place of the official briefing."With that General Aralius turned to leave.

He stopped just short of the doors threshold. "Also Major, my files say that it's just yourself and two other marines on your crew. You may need a larger squad for what we have planned."

"No need to worry General, we will make sure that the Major is ready when the time comes. We were just about to discuss his staffing situation." Udina supplied.

"Very well, I'll be in touch."

Frost had known something big was going down, but he hadn't been prepared for being asked to join the Turians in their mission.

"Frost, we've found some soldiers that we think will be suitable additions to your squad. And also, stop spending your credits on gear, the Alliance can still equip its squads for battle."

Admiral Lorenzo briefed the Major on the time and place the new squad members had been ordered to report. He had also given Frost an assignment to accomplish before the Turians were ready to deploy. The data Averez had recovered from Trebin had been analyzed and revealed another suspected Cerberus facility on the planet Sanctum. The squad was to infiltrate the facility and recover any useful Intel held within.

This was a mission Frost was more than happy to take on.

…

Twelve hours later, Frost stood before a small gathering of Alliance soldiers; many of the faces were familiar to him. The flight crew of _**Pearl Harbor **_had requested to rejoin the Major and his squad. They knew the _Skip Ray_ could use an experienced flight team, and it would give Frost the ability to focus on the mission and leave the flying to them.

Flight Lieutenant Adam Parker sat in the front row with his arm now freed from its sling but still encased in a hard cast up to the elbow. The pilot had been hoping for a chance to fly _**Saving Grace**_ since seeing the ship get the better of the Major over Trebin; the fact that he would soon be doing exactly that had a large smile plastered across his face.

Ensign Hunter Maxwell would resume his duties operating the sensor and communication stations for Frost. It had taken Hunter a few days to get over their ordeal at the Cerberus facility, but once he had gathered himself, he had become determined to get into the fight.

Ensign Felicitie Washington seemed to have developed an interest in Averez; taking the position at navigation would ensure that she would be able to pursue her prey. Felicitie figured that if she was going to have to risk her life fighting in this war, she may as well get some eye candy out of the deal. Plus she'd get the added bonus of looking at Frost, he might have been unattainable, but that didn't mean she couldn't enjoy that view as well.

Frost's gaze swept over the room picking out the new faces. A quick head count revealed one of the dossiers he was holding didn't have a corresponding marine to go with it. Filing it in the back of his mind, the Major apprised the soldiers that were present.

Gunnery Chief Richard Stachous made Frost look like a small man; while on his feet the man reached a height of six foot six. Seated as he was, scrunched and awkward in the classroom style seats, the olive skinned man look every bit that height. Stachous had been the support gunner of his previous squad. After watching helplessly while they were all cut down by reaper thralls, the burly soldier was itching for a fight.

Sergeant Diana Ripley had come from an Alliance engineering unit; she quickly clarified that she would get the team past any door they might come across, just don't ask her to hack the thing. Apparently her previous squad commander couldn't appreciated her affinity for explosives, the fact that she could never understand that there was such a thing as overkill made him jump at the chance to transfer the demolitions expert. So long as she didn't blow him up, Frost would gladly unleash her upon his enemies.

Sergeant Kiskai Hiymora was brought in to boost the squad's biotic power. The vanguard had spent the last few months assisting Alliance R&D in fine tuning their new "Slayer combat system". Nami's brow had risen at his claim of advanced hand to hand combat expertise; she figured she would have to asses that for herself.

The door at the rear of the room opened and a tall, fit, and clearly confident officer made her way to the front of the room. With her dark hair pulled back into a long, flowing pony tail, wearing Alliance BDUs and somehow managing to make them look amazing, Staff Lieutenant Veronica Winters snapped a crisp salute and then smiled. "Good to see you again Major, it's been too long."

…

Alliance hanger F-36A was bustling with activity, crews worked around the clock in this hanger maintaining all the various small craft the Alliance had in service in the Widow Cluster. The berth assigned to _**Saving Grace **_had its own small army of technicians zipping about busily preparing the vessel for flight. The boarding ramp was down and crew members were moving up and down packing away supplies and equipment for their upcoming mission. Tubes and wires hung haphazardly from the underside of the vessel supplying power and fuel for _**Saving Grace**_'s journey.

Averez was giving Stachous the rundown on _**Grace**_'s weapons systems. Lieutenant Parker had been the first to refer to the ship by the abridged name, but in the time it had taken the Major to arrive, every crew member seemed to have taken a liking to the abbreviation. Frost had to admit, with the ships profile and the new paint, the nickname was quite fitting.

Chief Yong had spotted Sergeant Hiymora's short sword as he was packing his gear away, she couldn't stop bouncing when he handed it to her so she could get a closer look. After she performed an impressive flurry of strokes with the blade, Hiymora had told Nami to keep the weapon. He said that it was his spare and he'd never liked its balance when she refused. The smile that quickly played across Nami's face made it clear that the balance hadn't been a problem for her. Not being one to refuse twice, Nami thanked Keskai and took the magnetic sheath he was holding before him then headed off to place the weapon with her gear.

Sergeant Ripley had found herself a corner in the back of _**Saving Grace**_'s passenger compartment. She sat listening to wireless head phones with several grenades in various stages of disassembly lain out in front of her on the metal deck. When Frost had asked what she was up to, she simply responded "Gonna get a little more boom outta 'em" then replaced her head phones and continued her work. Frost shook his head, hopping she wouldn't blow the ship to pieces before they left the dock.

The Major pulled Lieutenant Winters aside for a private conversation; to say that the two had history would be a gross understatement. They had met three years ago while both were on leave. After meeting in a crowded night club, they had spent a week in a hotel room on Beckenstein wearing nothing but each other. They both understood what the other was looking for, and after their short escapade they had both gone their separate ways never expecting to cross paths again. Still, Frost felt he needed to make sure that their past would not cause a conflict.

"I just need to be sure we can work together." Frost was saying.

"Please Major, give me some credit. We both got what we wanted back then and I'm N7, all business when the shit starts."

"I think I can work with that." Frost replied felling a little of his tension melt away." You're my second now; you think you're up for it?"

"I was leading my own squad before those monsters wiped us out."

"Really, what happened?"

"Arcturus."

Not much more explanation was needed except for maybe how she had survived. The way the space station had been taken by surprise and subsequently annihilated, it was amazing that anyone had made it out.

As the two officers wrapped up their private chat, technicians began removing the last of the maintenance equipment that was attached to _**Saving Grace.**_

…

The gear was loaded and the squad was ready to go, Frost slid into the copilot's seat beside Lieutenant Parker to wait for their departure clearance.

"First time I've seen a squad made totally of N7s. I kinda feel elite with all you guys around." The pilot commented.

"Just get ready to take us out, Mister Elite. How about this, you can call yourself elite once you pop your first Reaper."

"Awe come on Major, you know I'm more of a lover than a fighter."

That got a slight chuckle out of Frost, a moment later the comm crackled and they received their launch clearance.

As **Saving Grace** powered away from the Citadel Frost began getting himself into his mission mind set. With a new squad, he felt he needed to set the tone he expected from his team and that was one of professionalism. He soon realized that he wasn't going to have to motivate this squad of N7s, they all seemed to be on the ball and ready for anything. They still had a long trip ahead of them and Frost hoped they would look just as ready once they found the Cerberus base. The planet Sanctum in the Decoris system of the Sigurd's Cradle was in the middle of the Termius systems; roughly a day and a half of travel would be required to reach the planet.

The crew made use of the lengthy flight by getting to know each other a bit better. Averez and Stachous seemed to be getting on well; the two soldiers had been comparing stories since the trip started. Apparently Stachous had seen a fair amount of combat in his time. Averez had run out of tales over an hour ago, but Stachous was showing no signs of running low on material.

Nami had Ensign Maxwell in a wrist lock; she and Hiymora were taking turns causing the young man to yelp in pain as they demonstrated various holds for Ensign Washington. Felicitie had expressed an interest in learning some basic hand to hand techniques and Nami and Keskai had been more than willing to help, Hunter not so much.

Lieutenant Parker had wrapped himself in a blanket and was dozing loudly in the passenger compartment, the pain in his arm had returned so Frost had told him to rest up until he was needed. After popping some pain pills he had quickly drifted off.

Seeing the major alone in the cockpit, Winters had decided to join him. She hadn't given him a second thought after their week long encounter, but she saw all too well why she had chosen him for her play thing back then. She couldn't deny it, she still found him ridiculously attractive. His smooth caramel skin and strong chiseled features looked just the way she remembered. She tried to shake off the thought of gripping his broad muscular shoulders, but then she found herself breaking out in goose bumps from the thought of his stubbled face against her skin. Frost had made it clear that he didn't want their past to cause a conflict, so she would remain professional.

As Veronica took the seat next to him, Frost turned to her with a small smile on his lips. He hadn't thought about her in years either, but now with her right next to him, it was becoming increasingly difficult to think of anything else. Her lightly tanned skin was exactly as he remembered, and likely just as soft too he thought to himself. If it were possible she looked to be in even better shape than she had been three years ago. Frost had always had a bit of a weakness for beautiful women. He had never fallen head over heels and that was the way he liked it, but he was a man that loved his eye candy, and Winters was definitely eye candy. Most women couldn't appreciate the fact that Frost didn't really have any interest in building a relationship. His devotion to the Alliance had never left much room for a love life and he knew it would be unfair to expect a woman to cope with the length of time he spent aboard star ships. Winters had basically expressed the same sentiment when they'd met so Frost had known from the beginning where they stood.

"..but I never thought I'd be on a _Skip_ this nice" Winters was saying. Frost had missed the first part of her statement due to his musing.

"Yeah, guess I gotta give Cerberus credit at least on their ship building."

"So, we never really had a chance to talk before, you know…out of breath and all." Winters had a smile on her face as she added the last part. "Looks like a good time to get to know each other."

"What do you want to know?" Frost asked, the smile she still wore was starting to make him a little nervous.

"Take it easy, nothing to heavy. I just feel a bit weird now given that we "know" each other while not knowing the first thing about one another."

"Fair enough."

"So how'd you end up in the Alliance?"

Frost leaned back in his seat stretching his arms as wide as was possible in the small cockpit and was rewarded with a few audible pops. After settling back into the seat, his posture was much more relaxed as he began to speak.

"Shit, with my family there weren't many options. Don't get me wrong, it's likely where I would have ended up anyway. But when Admiral Jackson Frost and Captain Timothy Frost are your predecessors you're expected to fall in line."

"Seriously, Jack Frost…Admiral Jack Frost. I always figured you were distantly related, I mean how many Frosts do you run into, but you're grandfather. You know, you don't really look like either of them."

Admiral Jackson Frost had been one of the Alliance's most decorated and renowned officers; he had seen some action during the _FIRST __CONTACT WAR_ and many considered him a genius for the unorthodox combat tactics he utilized against the Turians. His creativity had earned the crew of his cruiser an amazing victory over their Turian adversary in a battle that should have been an overwhelming defeat. Captain Timothy Frost had been a green ensign, fresh out of the academy during the short conflict with the Turians. But in the year following, his name had become well know among Alliance officers. The man had quite literally rewritten the book on ship to ship engagements. The Alliance had gone as far as building some of their advanced fleet combat training programs around his tactics. This was the legacy the Major had to live up to.

"So, what's your story? How'd you end up a marine?"

"Honestly, I originally joined up for the human contact. I didn't exactly have a normal childhood."

Winters told Frost about her short stay at Grissom Academy, apparently the Ascension Project hadn't been for her, their rules were to strict for her wild adolescent personality. She went on to explain how demanding an Asari biotics Tudor could be. After leaving Grissom she had been sent to Illium to learn to master her gifts. Her wealthy family had been scared to death when her abilities began to manifest, they used the excuse of getting her the best training as justification for shipping away their black sheep.

Their conversation went on for some time, it just felt so natural. After a while they were just having friendly small talk. A series of clangs from somewhere under the deck plating caused all the separate conversations on the small vessel to end abruptly. Frost rose from his seat heading back into the passenger area of the ship. A large section of the deck plating had been removed near the rear of the craft and Ripley's head could be seen repeatedly rising out of the hole then back down below the floor as she tinkered with something. Frost called her name several times as he approached, but the headphones still hanging from her ears were successfully blocking all sound.

"Ripley, what the hell are you doing?"

As Frost looked down into the hole he noticed the two open missile warheads she was tinkering with and his heart jump in his chest.

Removing her left ear piece she replied. " Sorry Major, didn't hear you. What do you need sir?"

"Why are there open warheads on my ship?"

"Oh…sorry sir, guess I should have said something first, huh?"

"Might be nice to know when live ordinance is being handled." Frost responded not looking the least amused.

"My fault sir…oh and these aren't live. See those four silver cylinders up there? Det Cores, right now all we're packing is duds. By the way, might be a good idea to avoid any fights for the time being. But when I'm done, well let's just say we'll be able to put one hell of a hole in anything stupid enough to fuck with us."

Frost considered staying angry and ripping the Sergeants ass for taking his ship apart without permission, but it was obvious that Ripley knew exactly what she was doing.

"Look Ripley, don't blow my fucking ship up, especially not while I'm on board. I want all this put back together before we get to Decoris. Understood?"

"Loud and clear sir."

Frost headed back up front wondering if incidents like this were why her last CO had been so eager to be rid of her. If she gets results, and can manage not to kill the whole squad, Frost figured he could handle a little more boom.

_**A/N: **So far I'm feeling pretty good about the direction this story is headed in. I haven't had much in the way of feedback for any of the chapters yet so i'd like to ask that you leave a short review if you have the time. a simple good, bad, or ok is more than enough. Would go along way toward motivation. Thanks!_


	7. Chapter 6

**A/N: **This is the first mission related to the MP. I always felt that some of the missions Shepard was sent on should have fallen to others. With that in mind I'll be mixing in missions based on MP and side quest, as well as original missions from this point on. Hope you enjoy and remember to review.

**Chapter 6-Trial by fire**

_**Saving**_ _**Grace**_ had arrived in the Decoris system ahead of schedule; Lieutenant Parker had made a few small course changes, shaving some time off of their trip. The planet Sanctum, though it was not a tourist hotspot, still had a healthy level of starship traffic. The ice cracking industry was alive and well it seemed despite the Reapers arrival in the galaxy.

Taking advantage of the planet's busy freight lanes, the flight team had managed to dump _**Saving**_ _**Grace**_'s heat sinks and put the ship into geosynchronous orbit directly above the Cerberus facility. The ship was not stealth capable, but on minimal power with only critical systems online, it would go unnoticed with the other traffic around the planet.

Entering the cockpit Chief Yong placed the short sword she had received from Hiymora in the sheath on her back, then sidled in beside Frost.

"So, how are we going in on this one? Doubt Cerberus left the door open for us."

The Major was seated at the weapons control station, the other three seats being occupied by the flight team members.

"You're not gonna like it." He responded, turning his chair to face Nami.

"Fuck Frost, tell me you're not gonna make us jump?" Nami asked, not liking the look of concealed amusement he was wearing.

"Sorry Stic…ah, I don't think we have any other options. _**Grace**_ can't land with the "AA" cannons Cerberus is sure to have, intel says this is a hardened base."

Frost had almost cringed at the slip of Gibson's nickname for Nami. He had given it to her after she had thoroughly beaten him with her Kendo practice sword; he had made a comment about not being afraid of a little girl with a stick.

"I don't think where equipped for an orbital jump, so we'll have to hope they don't spot us when Parker drops into atmo. for the halo."

Frost knew that to Nami it didn't matter, one was just as bad as the other; she hated jumps no matter how high. It had been the one thing her instructors at the Villa had not been impressed with; she passed the course, but just barely.

"If you wanna stay here it's ok, I know you hate jumping." Frost offered to sooth the Chief.

"What, and have the FNGs call me a pussy, no way. But you are sooo gonna make this up to me. Don't know how yet but I'll think of something." She wore a devilish grin as she finished.

After dawning his armor Frost grabbed the new Turian built Phaeston assault rifle that General Aralius had sent; he suspected to smooth things over. He had to admit that it was an elegant weapon, its form undeniably Turian to its core. The weight felt good and surprisingly the alien rifle was quite comfortable and natural in his hands. The rest of the squad had suited up as well, Chief Stachous getting odd looks from Frost, Yong, and Averez. Ripley assisted him with strapping on a suit of armor that aside from the black paint with the red blood strip and the shoulder mounted missile launcher, looked exactly like Gibson's rig. Sergeant Hiymora's armor looked as if it could be the male version of the gear Chief Yong preferred. Its armored plates were much heavier but the overall appearance was very similar. Apparently an affinity for bladed weapons wasn't the only common thread they shared. Ripley's combat gear looked to be relatively light, but it had thick plating in the critical areas. With the amount of explosives the demolitions expert was touting, Frost could see the benefits of a light rig. Lieutenant Winters' combat suit however hardly looked the part. She had assured the Major that it would be up to the task of protecting her; she pointed out that a biotic of her ability would only be hindered by thick armor plating. Thick plates would not be a problem with the hooded cat suit she was wearing.

_**Saving**_ _**Grace**_ entered Sanctum's atmosphere and descended a short distance in preparation for the marine's insertion. The squad was setting up to begin the decent toward the Cerberus installation; they were all paired in twos, except for Frost, with jump packs securely fastened over the weapons stowed on their backs. Parker lowered the boarding ramp, allowing a blast of howling air to rip through the ship's passenger compartment. As its safety locks clicked into place the marines formed two short lines along the short decline, they were forced to kept firm grips on the ramp's vertical actuators to sure up their footing against the buffeting winds. On the Major's order, the three pairs began falling away from the ship leaving Frost to be the last man to step off the ramp. They would free fall until reaching a predetermined altitude, at which point the tiny mass effect field generator and deceleration flaps on the jump packs would activate and deploy to bring them safely to solid ground.

The commandos streaked through the air high above the Cerberus base in tight formation. They maneuvered toward their objective using the flaps on their packs. Despite this being their first jump as a squad, the precision they were displaying made it look as if they had been together for years. Frost had spotted a promising landing zone, a large loading dock, from high above the installation. Sending the waypoint to each squad members hud, the major pitched his shoulders, banking hard to line the squad up for the steep approach. As their boots hit solid ground, Jump packs were ejected and weapons drawn almost in the same instant. The squad fanned out across the loading dock, taking cover behind the large creates on the lower section. They carefully scanned the area looking for any opposition. Finding none, the Major led them up the ramps on the dock's left hand side where Averez made short work of the heavy blast door. The doors interface turned green before their eyes and Frost steeled himself mentally for what was ahead of them.

"What's _J5_ got on his scanners?"

Averez's latest upgrades now allowed him to access the drone's active and passive sensor without activating its physical form.

"All I've got are passives; if I go active we'll have company pretty fast. Life signs show this area as relatively empty."

With that the Major motioned for Averez to proceed. The Squad entered and quickly cleared a small control room. Apparently, this particular loading dock was seldom used, as the team moved through the room they found that its computer terminals where all either disconnected or completely removed. The seven marines made their way through a door at the far side of the room and found themselves in a long narrow hallway. The cramped passage was littered with storage creates and mobile cargo dollies. The disorderly state of the hall hindered their progress but it also provided cover as they moved toward the surveillance cameras at the intersection they were approaching. Thus far the squad seemed to be going unnoticed by whatever security the facility had on hand, and that was the way Frost hoped to keep it.

"Nami, I need to know what's up ahead."

At the Major's implied command Nami shimmered and disappeared, moving into the intersection. She found that the two paths in front of her were quite different, one continued on for about fifty yards before turning sharply right. The second bore a single door a few feet down its left side wall with a green entry interface in its center. Approaching the door, Nami could hear muffled voices holding a conversion within.

"Got a door down the first hallway, I can hear a couple of voices inside." she reported.

"Copy, if you can take them quietly, do it." Frost replied.

The door swooshed open and the two Cerberus troopers inside turned to see an empty hall beyond.

"What the hell? Make a note to get maintenance over here to look at the door controls."

As the door closed the trooper on the right saw a flicker of movement in his peripheral just before an invisible blade opened his throat. With blood from his companion spraying across his visor the second trooper moved for his weapon. Before he could bring the rifle up Nami shimmered back into view driving her blade down hard between the armored plates of the trooper's neck and shoulder, a quick twist of her sword and the trooper slumped as a wet gurgle escaped his lips.

"Two hostiles down. I'll see what I can do about the cameras."

Being careful not to trip any alarms, Nami cut the camera feeds for their section of the base. The team quickly regrouped in the small security outpost. Averez had suspected that he would be able to gain access to the facility network from there, but he soon discovered that this base would not grant him access so easily. There were two separate networks within the facility and the primary was only accessible through dedicated terminals. He would need to gain access to one and have its enabling codes to complete their mission. Access to the secondary network did however provide him with the facilities layout and also an opportunity to infect it with a virus that would mask the evidence of the quads presence. The Virus would cause the cameras to malfunction and distort vid feeds as they moved through the building. Averez then located a likely location for a dedicated terminal. They would have to travel deep into the base to reach it, but it seemed it was their only option. Frost had wasted no time; they had gotten under way immediately.

"Two Contacts up ahead. Nami reported from her point position. "Doubt I can take them both quietly, their too far apart."

Frost turned to Sergeant Hiymora, motioning the vanguard forward with a nod. "Make it quick and quiet."

Nodding his acknowledgement Keskai drew his blade and ran silently down the passage.

The squad stepped out onto a network of catwalks high above a large lab. After taking in the sight of two headless Cerberus Snipers, Frost surveyed the area below. The room look like an amphitheater, eight tiered levels formed a slopping half bowl down into the main floor of the large lab far below. Each level was ringed with lab tables, testing equipment, and large cylinders that looked like stasis pods. The main floor at the lowest level contained numerous computer counsels, two of the odd pods, and two rows of lab tables and work stations surrounding a massive mainframe. All around the spacious room Cerberus troopers stood strategically placed and clearly ready to respond to any threat.

The squad's movements through the facility hadn't gone unnoticed for long; the N7s had encountered a number of enemy patrols as they progressed through the base and all had suddenly stopped checking in. Though thus far it seemed that the facility's security force had still failed to pinpoint the team's position, Frost knew that with what he was planning, that was going to quickly change.

"Ripley, I want some welcoming gifts back the way we came. Try to leave the building standing, Sergeant." Frost heard a few light chuckles ring out over the squad comm.

The squad fanned out across the catwalk while Ripley set up her proximity mines. Cerberus chatter coming across the link Averez had set up motivated her to pick up the pace; they had found the first two troopers Nami killed in the security out post and would no doubt be heading their way soon.

Frost was issuing orders when Ripley returned.

"Yong and Hiymora will stay up here. Chiefs on over watch, you're watching her ass Sergeant. Stachous and Ripley will set up on the fifth level. There's a hall leading to the hanger's service elevator on the northern wall, keep it clear. We'll locate a vehicle for evac once Averez finishes." He received four affirmatives then turned to his lieutenant. "Winters, we're watching Averez's ass till he's done, don't know how long this is gonna take people, just keep your heads in it and watch each other's backs."

Chief Yong disappeared in a glimmer of light and Sergeant Hiymora seemed to melt into the shadows behind the powerful lights suspended from the walkway. Frost smiled behind his helmet, thinking this squad just might work out. The others quickly moved to their assigned positions as Frost, Winters, and Averez prepared to leap over the catwalk's railing. Stachous and Ripley repelled down to the fifth level, utilizing a heavy support beam on the far side of the lab to concealing their decent. They were forced to move slowly in order to avoid detection as they positioned themselves to cover the group dropping into the center of the room. High above them, Nami was already selecting targets. She was planning to focus on the seven troopers she saw patrolling the fourth level, the other nine that were spread around the ground floor would be up to the others.

Frost leaned back gripping his repelling line in one hand and pistol in the other. He pushed off hard barking the order to open fire. In his HUD, Frost could see fourteen human forms highlighted in red thanks to _J5_. Nine of them he knew were troopers, the other five wore uniforms commonly seen in hospitals and lab settings, those five he wanted alive.

Tracer fire began to fill the air around the commandos as they sped toward the lab below. The team on the fifth level was tearing the Cerberus troopers apart, Stachous' N7 Typhoon heavy machine gun poured a seemingly endless stream of fire toward the ground floor, while Ripley lobbed grenade like rounds from her Falcon assault rifle at the fourth. Chief Yong's sniper rifle would cut through the staccato of exchanging fire from time to time; each retort caused the enemy assault to diminish.

The Major's group landed on the main floor of the lab, weapons singing as their boots met concrete, and immediately broke for cover. Frost's other teams were keeping the Cerberus troopers occupied, but he wasn't about to let his guard down. Stachous had already scored three kills as the trio landed on the main level and he was looking to tally his fourth, but the trooper he was targeting had scrambled into cover before the marine could draw a bead on him. Winters was wreathed in a violet aura as she vanished with flash and low resonating pop. She reappeared beside the trooper, body going rigid and rising a few feet from the ground before erupting with a shockwave of biotic power. The force of the wave sent the trooper and the heavy lab table he was using as cover skittering across the room broken and twisted. Frost charged across the room, having spotted a trooper attempting to close in on Winters. Hurtling a table, he fired two pistol rounds into the trooper's chest before his boot hammered the newly dented armor. The Cerberus soldier crashed to the floor in a heap but quickly rolled to his hands and knees, but before he was able to push himself upright the barrel of Frost pistol tap the back of his helmet, then his visor exploded in a rain of gore. Averez and _J5 _flushed the remaining troopers from cover while Stachous mopped them up, and a_s_ the last of the enemy soldiers hit the ground, armor full of holes, Frost and Winters cornered the five scientists as they attempted to sneak away.

"Averez, get to it."

Frost and Winters secured the scientists, binding their hands, and led them back to the terminals in the center of the room. Averez had already successfully gained access to the Cerberus mainframe. The scientist hadn't been able to log out due to the squads dramatic arrival, making his task far less difficult. He and _J5 _were downloading the facility's data at a blistering rate but there was just so much; this was going to take a while.

"Major, you may want to have a look at some of the tech. in here." Averez said, still focusing on his task. "Shit I'm seeing here looks a lot like Trebin."

Strange looking devices sat on a few of the tables with bundles of wires connecting them to various pieces of equipment. One of the pods was connected to the odd devices by numerous tubes, inside Frost could swear he was seeing movement. Looking closely, he tried futilely to make out what the thing was when an explosion blossomed on the catwalk high above.

"Looks like we're about to run out of time here, Frost." Nami blurted over the comm.

"Dig in people. We need to give Averez as much time as possible."

The marines each moved to cover, preparing themselves for the fight that was coming their way. Frost would have preferred to be firing into the half bowl of a room rather than at its center firing out, but this was where he was and he'd have to make it work. He tucked their prisoners behind some heavy creates, and then ripped the wires from one of the weird devices tossing it into a hardened carrying case he found nearby. Frost threw the case unceremoniously behind the cover with his captives as moved to find his own.

"Here they come"

Frost saw a flash of blue then the muzzle flash from a shot gun as Hiymora charged into the Cerberus forces entering the room up on the catwalk. Squads began pouring through doors on the second level while small round canisters rolled from a door on the eighth. Thick smoke began spewing from the metal balls as they came to a stop, and then the room erupted in gun fire. Winters body lit up once more and disappeared in a biotic flash. She materialized in the mist of the squad that had entered on the second level with strange purple black fire blazing all around her. Pistol in one hand, biotics twisting wildly around the other, she sent a dense ball of energy into the nearest enemy soldier; the force of the blast lifting the trooper and engineer beside him bodily to crash to the main floor of the lab where they were immediately cut down by Frost. The troopers that remained on the second level quickly realized that the churning dark energy radiating from Winters was much more than a mere light show. The tendrils of energy licked at their plates and their armor began to split and crack from the power of the annihilation field. Her body stiffened once more, aura flaring brightly as her power peaked and then the deep boom of a biotic detonation rang out through the lab, the shockwave sending bodies flying in all directions.

Stachous and Ripley were keeping pressure on the eighth level. Missiles and grenades sailed into the growing cloud of smoke surrounding the one door on that level causing the squad of troopers there to hesitate to push further into the lab. With Ripley's supply pylon feeding them ammunition and boosting their shields, and Stachous' Typhoon pounding that level, Frost knew they had things under control.

The Major removed the Pheaston assault rifle from his back and sprinted for the short metal stair case leading to the second level. He spotted a second group of enemy soldiers as he ran hunched through the narrow walkway. As he neared the group he released a blast of super cooled particles from his new onmi tool. Those among them that were unshielded snapped and froze instantly. The single shielded soldier was cut down by the Major's rifle, her armor icing just enough to slow her movement.

The squad on the eighth level was finding the Stachous/Ripley combination to be too much, only one soldier remained. That changed however when two troopers carrying heavy riot shields walked through the entryway. Despite Stachous emptying his clip and launching two missiles into the new arrivals, all he could manage was to stagger them. Ripley's omni tool lit up and a glowing cylinder took form atop it. With a soft thud the cylinder fired from her wrist, splitting down its center, the two homing grenades headed straight for the shield wielders. The first grenade detonated, causing the lead trooper's grip to falter; as his shield dropped fractionally the second grenade went off at eye level, taking off half of the guardian's head along with the trooper that had taken cover behind him. A deep boom from a sniper rifle proceeded the second guardian's death, Nami's precision shot through the eye slot in his shield popped his head like an over ripe fruit.

The squad was managing to hold the lab, the entryways where covered from multiple angles, and they were quickly whittling down the opposition. Keskai was engaging the Cerberus troopers pushing into the lab from the catwalk, his body a spinning blur as his blade cut and slashed; each stroke relieving a trooper of a body part or opening a fatal wound.

The squad had the Cerberus troopers on their heels and it was looking like the skirmish would soon end with the marines being victorious. Frost was making his way back down to the first level when a section of the ceiling high above crashed inward and four troopers dropped through the newly made hole. Somehow these four looked to be even more heavily armored than the troopers they had encountered thus far. Their shields sparked violently as they absorbed the squad's fire. Just before the four enemy soldiers hit the ground on the main floor, powerful thrusters on their boots ignited, slowing their decent. The four centurions landed with rifles drawn and immediately moved for cover.

Staying low, Frost ran from work station to lab table, concealing his approach as he flanked one of the centurions' cover. He reached over, latching a vise like grip on the man's armored neck roll and hauled him over the work station. As the soldier landed at his feet, Frost's omni blade sunk into his armor and flesh until his knuckles contacted the Centurions' chest plate. The Major knew the other three soldiers would be moving his way; he inched around his cover to get a look and was rewarded with rounds slamming into his shields. They sparked wildly as a loud, incessant beeping erupted over his helmet's speakers. With no other options available to him Frost activated the shield function on his omni tool. The holographic barrier materialized before him, each round that impacted it causing tiny flames to erupt from its surface. The Major ripped the heavy pistol from his hip and let loose several rounds over the top of his shield, only managing to drop one of his adversaries' kinetic barriers. In a desperate attempt to gain some room to work, he lunged forward, smashing his shield into the unshielded Centurion. As the holographic barrier made contact with the man, he burst into flames, the sight causing his two surviving companions to hesitate for just a heartbeat. It was all Frost needed. The shield was gone in an instant, replaced by his glowing blade. With the sickening sound of cracking bone, Frost's omni blade punched through the back of the nearest centurions' throat. His other arm was alight with biotic energy, before letting the impaled soldier hit the ground he released the building power. The blast struck the last standing Centurion hard, stripping his shields and catapulting him into one of the large pods with bone shattering force. Frost was on top of the injured soldier in an instant, he had always been told that you don't stop until your opponent is no longer a threat. Placing his pistol to under the Centurions' chin, Frost pulled the trigger.

The lab descended into silence, the stifled whimpers of the scientist and the hum of their lab equipment the only sounds left in the room. Averez continued the work as he remained hidden in cover under a workstation.

"Report."

The entire squad sounded off over the comm. at Frost's order. So far the only marine to have suffered an injury more severe than bruised flesh beneath their armor was Sergeant Hiymora. He had taken a round to the shoulder. The thing had managed to slip between the seams of his armor plating while his barriers had been down.

"Averez, any time now please."

"Just a couple more minutes, sir. I'm at ninety percent."

"Yong, Hiymora, get to the fifth level. Winters, you can head up too. Take our guests with you."

Frost headed back over to the pod, his curiosity nagging at him, he was not leaving the base until he saw what was inside. He peered through the transparent lid, the thick gas trapped within obscuring the pod's contents, never the less he was certain that he was seeing movement inside. Frost leaned closer and a female face emerged from the fog, her skin was pale and lights danced just beneath the surface. But her eyes were what truly drew the Major's attention, they were far too blue to be natural, as he held the woman's gaze they seemed to glow. Yet the look on her face was not that of a monster, it held a regretful sadness, like she knew what was happening to her.

"Can you hear me?" Frost yelled, hoping it would penetrate the thick lid." What are they doing to you?"

She sunk back into the fog, leaving the Major's questions unanswered.

The rest of the squad, with the exception of Averez, were all making their way toward the fifth level. Keskai and Nami both simply vaulted the catwalk's railing, tightening their grips on their repelling lines at the last second; they slowed their descent landing safety. Veronica was slowly persuading the scientists towards the upper levels, one had soiled himself during the fire fight and he was quickly wearing on the Lieutenants patience. He constantly slowed progress as he broke down like a child about having to help carry the device Frost acquired.

Sergeant Ripley stood at the railing of the fifth level, her weapon trained on the ascending scientist, when the sound of the lift activating drew her attention. Stachous was on his radio before she fully registered the new threat.

"Major, the lift just powered up. I think we'll be having more company soon."

He had no clue how right he was. The doors at the end of the passageway parted and a massive, piloted heavy mech. stepped out. The machine was so large it filled the narrow hallway, only inches from scraping the walls as it lumbered toward the opening to the lab.

"Activating devastator mode." Stachous shouted as the Atlas raised its heavy cannon, taking aim with pernicious intent.

His suit began sending power to the stability enhancing servos in the arms and rerouted power to boost the punch of his heavy machine gun and missile systems. Audible clicks and whirls could be heard as his T5 battle suit locked plates in key areas to increase durability.

"Major, we've got a big problem moving in from the lift." Ripley reported."Pretty sure me and Stachous can take him, but shits gonna get messy."

Recalling Ripley's affinity for explosions, Frost felt he should reaffirm their escape plan. "We need that lift in one piece, Sergeant. Will that be a problem?"

There was a moment of silence before Averez cut into the conversation. "Done, Major. It's all heavily encrypted but that's everything."

"Good, let's move." Frost said, turning away from the pod. "Ripley, were on our way up. Give that thing hell till we get there, but we need that lift."

Frost and Averez met at the stairs leading to the upper levels, taking them in twos and threes they quickly caught up with Winters. She was still struggling with the trouble making scientist, the round from Frost's pistol that grazed his cheek motivated the man to cooperate, albeit grudgingly.

As they ascended the levels they could hear the sound of their other squad members struggling with the Atlas. Frost hoped the low rumble of explosive he kept hearing wasn't a bad sign. They reached the fifth level and Frost was greeted by the sight of Stachous unloading his weapon down the lifts hallway. The soldier looked more like a weapons platform than a marine with his machine gun spitting a furious torrent of rounds, while the missile launcher on his shoulder locked on and fired time after time. Ripley stood in cover opposite him, Hurricane sub machine gun singing in her hands. Hiymora and Yong were also adding their own fire to the effort to stop the machine with little effect.

"How the hell are its shields so strong?"

Ripley was starting to lose her patients. She could barely manage the blind fire she was sending the Atlas' way due to the constant stream of rounds exiting the hallway.

As Frost and Averez approached the fire fight, leaving Winters to watch over the prisoners, a rocket sailed out from the passage. Half way through its flight the missile was clipped by several rounds from Stachous and Ripley's weapons causing it to detonate prematurely. The blast lifted the two marines from their feet throwing them a short distance to be stopped painfully by the metal guardrail. Frost and Averez slid into their previous positions to renew the assault on the mech.

"Averez, give me a distraction."

At Frost's order Kail deployed _J5 _in the passageway. The Atlas's pilot didn't waste any time, it immediately began stitching the drone with machine gun fire. Just as _J5 _detonated, having reached the limit of the damage he could endure, Frost broke cover tapping the command on his omni tool that drained the remnants of the heavy mech's shields, sending the power directly to his own. With its shields down, two precision shots from Nami broke the canopy's armored glass, and then pierced the pilot's cranium, causing the machine to slump against the wall of the corridor.

"Let's go before we get more company."

The marines quickly made their way to the lift at end of the hall and piled in, their drawn weapons providing motivation for their captives. The Major slapped the activation pad and got no response.

"Looks like they figured we'd go for the hanger, powers been cut." Averez stated, examining the control pad.

"Fuck…give me some options." Frost was quickly growing tired of this base.

"The service ladder here will take us to these ventilation ducts," Averez had a projection of the base's blueprint hovering above his omni tool. "From there it should be pretty simple to reach the landing pads on the west end of the facility."

Frost opened the comm. channel for _**Saving Grace**_. "Parker, fire it up. Looks like we'll need a pick up."

"Roger that, on the way sir."

The fight crew was beginning to grow bored; on _**Pearl Harbor **_they would have easily found distractions to pass the time while the ground team was away. _**Saving Grace**_ however was proving to be a dull ship during down time. They had played three rounds of Skylian five, and watched the one vid the ship had stored in its data banks twice. The call for pick up hadn't come a moment too soon. Parker brought all systems back online and slammed the throttles forward putting _**Saving Grace **_on course for the coordinates Frost had sent.

Frost led the squad through the cramped labyrinth of the facility's ventilation system. Averez's directions were spot on, the commandos were now peering through an air intake grill, out onto a large multiple craft landing pad. The pad itself was bare save for the six Cerberus soldiers patrolling its perimeter. Frost had told Winters to keep the scientist quiet, With the exception of their wildly chattering teeth due to the frigid temperatures of Sanctum, they were doing just that.

Frost planned to hold position inside the duct until _**Grace**_ arrived. He was hoping to go unnoticed by the pad's security squad, but the sounds of armored boots from the direction they'd come made that irrelevant.

"Where the hell are you Parker? We're gonna have Cerberus crawling up our asses again in a sec."

"A minute out, sir. Cerberus has a lot of fighters in the air." Parker stated in his defense.

Frost had originally been worried about the "AA" guns positioned around the landing pads perimeter, but Averez had assured him that they would react to _**Grace**_ in the fashion that the security cameras had to the squad thanks to his virus. Now it seemed that the enemy fighter craft would be the true issue for securing their extraction. _**Saving Grace**_ was fast and maneuverable, but she was no fighter. Nevertheless just as the foot falls to their rear were drawing close the roar of powerful starship thrusters screamed past overhead.

The major was instantly in motion planting his boot forcefully against the hinge of the intake vent. The clatter from the grating skidding across the landing pad drew the attention of the Cerberus security squad, but the fire the marines sent their way had them scrambling for cover before they could organize a response.

Parker swung the ship back around and was approaching the landing pad directly in front of the squad. The boarding ramp was extended, a welcome sight for the weary soldiers. During their hasty scramble for the safety of _**Saving Grace**_ two of the captive scientist caught rounds intended for the marines, the squad didn't even consider slowing their pace for the wounded prisoners. Parker pulled the ship's noise higher as he pushed the throttles forward, screaming away even as the last of the squad topped the ramp. The upgrades Cerberus had given _**Grace**_'s engines made outpacing their fighters a simple task. Parker had quickly pulled away from a perusing group of fighters and was now blazing for a clear lane to make their jump to FTL speeds.

Intel, prisoners and samples all secured. No one seriously injured. Frost considered that a successful mission. Not bad for a brand new squad, he thought to himself.

"Once we make the jump to FTL I want everyone to get some rest, I'll take first watch. Good job out there people, I think that was a successful trial run.


	8. Chapter 7

**_Author's notes: Mass Effect 3 and all related characters and trademarks are property of EA/Bioware. Rated M for language, violence and suggestive themes._**

**Chapter 7- Preparations**

After the long flight back to the citadel the crew of _**Saving Grace**_ turned over their prisoners, the alien tech and the Intel recovered from the Cerberus base. Then they had been forced to endure hours of debriefings in a tiny Alliance planning room. Frost had dismissed the squad, with the exception of Lieutenant Winters, after they had finished giving their accounts of the operation on Sanctum. Counselor Udina had not been happy about being excluded from the meetings and had demanded a personal debriefing, Frost felt that if Winters was going to be his second in command then she should be present for all official business. The two marines had changed out of their generic Alliance utilities for their blue officers BDUs then hopped in a public sky car heading for the Human Embassy.

"Not that I'm complaining, but why does Udina need a personal debrief. Can't he just read the reports?" Winters question was identical to the one Frost had asked the counselor's messenger when he'd been told of Udina's summons.

"Apparently the Counselor has been injecting himself into military planning a lot lately. Commander Patrelli says he's been all over anything related to Cerberus, if he can get us closer to bringing those bastards down then I can deal with him being a little noisy." Frost had been suspicious about Udina's motives at first, but he'd decided if Humanity's political leader had a grudge against Cerberus, then who was he to interfere.

"I guess, just seems like a power trip to me."

After a short ride, the sky car came to a stop before the Human Embassy and the two officers made their way to the large elaborately decorated office of Donnel Udina.

"Major, Lieutenant, thank you for coming. That was excellent work on Sanctum." Seated behind a large expensive looking desk, Udina extended his hand in greeting.

"Not a problem Counselor, we just did our jobs". Though Frost wasn't Udina's biggest fan, he did pride himself on his professionalism.

"I know your likely ready to relax after that mission so I'll make this brief. With their recent activities, I've made keeping myself appraised on all Cerberus related missions a priority. With that in mind I'd like to discuss the details of your mission."

"I'm not really sure what else we can tell you, we didn't leave anything out of the report." Frost replied.

"And I don't doubt that Major, I'm more interested in the Cerberus scientist you captured. They are the only Cerberus personnel we've captured that haven't committed suicide before interrogation." Udina glanced back and forth between the two officers as he continued. "I'd like to know if any information may have been divulged during your return trip that was possibly… overlooked in your reports."

"With all due respect Counselor, my squad was very thorough in preparing those reports. We've given you everything we found." Frost tone was respectful but at the same time clearly offended.

"I can appreciate your confidence in your team Major, but Cerberus agents have shown time and again that they are extremely proficient at hiding and communicating vital Intel right under our noses. Any conversations your squad may have over heard need to be analyzed." Udina stated with authority.

"Counselor, I think you should just get to the point."

Udina seemed taken aback by the Major's stern tone. "It's quite simple Major; _**Saving Grace **_has internal video and audio receivers. I want her archive files from your return trip; my people will analyze the footage to see if any prudent Intel was passed between the prisoners."

Frost didn't like anyone suggesting that he or the people under his command had been negligent or incompetent while on a mission, but he couldn't think of any reason to deny the politician's request.

"I'll have sergeant Averez send those files over first thing in the morning. If that's all Counselor, we'll take our leave."

Frost turned on his heels heading for the door before Udina could respond, Winters was only seconds behind him. There was no conversation between the two marines as they made their way back out of the Embassy. On the way to their car Winters decided she'd had enough and broke the silence.

"Don't let it get to you, Frost."

Though Frost had been immersed in silent contemplation, it hadn't been due to anger; he had been trying to work out what Udina was really up to.

"We just handed command a shit ton of Cerberus Intel along with their scientist and Tech. But Udina only seems concerned with what we may or may not have overheard a group of desperate prisoners say as we hauled them in for interrogation. It just doesn't make sense."

"You think he's got something to hide?"

"Shit, he's a politician isn't he?" Frost replied. "I'd say his priorities seem a bit out of order, but I suppose an argument could be made for his line of thinking. For now we just keep doing our job, but if Udina is not on the level, I just hope I'm around when it comes out."

The sky car landed before them and its hatch opened to admit them entry as the two marines continued their conversation.

"I've got a briefing with Turian command tomorrow; they've got a mission they want our help with. I want you there."

"Taking a liking to me are you Major?" Winters replied wearing a small wolfish grin.

"You're my second in command now and that means if I have to sit through boring ass briefings, so do you." Frost replied with a little humor returning to his voice.

"I'll be there with bells on." As Winters finished speaking her stomach made its presence known. "Damn, with all these meetings I missed lunch. You hungry?"

The hour was growing late and Frost was likewise feeling the signs of his body rebelling from the lack of nourishment. He accepted the Lieutenants offer and changed course heading toward one of his favorite establishments. The small restaurant was not extravagant by any standard, but it did have a nice relaxed atmosphere and soothing live music could be heard as the two officers entered. The small eatery catered to the less adventurous Humans aboard the Citadel serving a wide range of traditional Earth dishes from steak and lobster to burgers and fries. With the meals steaming in front of them the soldiers settled into some friendly conversation.

"So Winters…"

"Come on Frost, were off duty. It's Veronica or Roni, which ever you prefer."

"Ok, Veronica. What were you up to before all this shit started?" Frost asked before placing a freshly cut piece of steak in his mouth.

"Well I spent a little time consulting and assisting with the biotics program at Grissom Academy. Evaluating instructors for them and revising their combat biotics training, that sort of stuff. Since I was familiar with the station, command thought I'd be a good fit. After that I was assigned a small squad and stationed on Arcturus as security."

"Seems like a waste of your talent to me." He replied.

"Yeah, that's how I felt too, but the squad was really green and needed a capable commander. A lot of good it did, they got spaced before they could even suit up when the Reapers hit." Winters tone was regretful.

"Not that I wanna dreg up bad memories, but how did you get out?"

Winters sat silently for a moment, an introspective look on her features as she stared down at her hands.

"We were off duty when the Reapers hit. The fleet was getting torn apart from the first shot and calls for evac were going out ten minutes into the battle. I sent my squad to the Ops wing to suite up, I figured we'd get boarded so I wanted my team ready for the fight. I headed for the parliament chambers to make sure evac procedures there were underway. The Reapers broke the fleet's defense lines before I made it halfway, and the Ops section was the first place they reduced to slag. My rookies never had a chance." She pause a moment wrestling with a lump that had formed in her throat. " I was heading back to see if anyone had survived when Captain Mathas threw me on his skiff, we barely made it to the rely even with the second fleet screening us."

"That's rough; I know how it feels to lose people because you've run out of options."

"Yeah, well as long as you get me plenty of opportunities to kick those Reaper fucks in the teeth, I think I'll manage."

They continued their conversation while enjoying the rest of their meals then decided to order a few drinks. Frost's third beer had given him a small buzz and that was where he had intended to end his night, but after some friendly teasing from Winters they both ended up stumbling out of the restaurant giggling like idiots. It was late into the Citadels night cycle when the two happily drunk officers stammered their way into the waiting sky car; they managed to set the auto pilot then settled in for the ride to their respective quarters. After Winters had been dropped off, the car delivered the Major to his apartment complex where he somehow managed to stumble onto the elevator and up to his floor.

As he wobbled through his apartment door on shaky legs, the fact that Averez was snoozing loudly on his large cough barely registered in Frost's mind. The Major made his way into the master bedroom and headed straight for the bed, even in his drunken state Frost could still navigate his part time home in complete darkness. He kicked off his boots and began removing his uniform as he swayed in place, struggling to stay upright. Once he had stripped to his boxers Frost collapsed onto his bed and was out cold before his head hit the pillow, oblivious to the other warm body occupying the king sized bed.

…

Frost had a smile plastered across his lips as he dreamed of fondling the tone flesh of his fantasy woman. He had never been a heavy sleeper and that was why he was so surprised when he realized that it was not merely a dream. Frost's mind slowly and reluctantly began to shake off the numbness from the night of drinking with Winters, when the realization that the firm rear end his hands were kneading was not a figment of his imagination jarred him fully awake. His eyes struggled to focus in the dim light sneaking past his drawn curtains, but he could just barely make out the heavily shadowed form of a woman beside him. He stayed deathly still as his mind raced, trying desperately to recall what the hell had happened the night before. As he lay there in deep thought the other occupant of the bed began to stir.

Nami's eyes snapped open wide, the hand she felt resting on her backside caused her to question her whereabouts. She leapt from the bed in a panic and activated the room's interior lighting. As the lights around the room's perimeter flickered to life, the two scantily clad marines stood staring at each other, their minds trying to process what was going on. In the same instant they both snapped out of their stupors and began to scramble for their clothing as they rambled off improvised explanations.

"Frost, I…" Nami began even as Frost was speaking.

"Nami, It's not…shit."

Their eyes met for an instant after they interrupted each other. With the lights now fully on, Nami's petite and amazingly tone body held Frost's attention. His eyes took in the sight of her washboard abs, well toned arms, and lean, muscular thighs. The years Nami had spent in training and combat had given her a figure a professional athlete would envy. The tiny boy shorts and tight sports bra hiding her shapely breast did little to discourage the heat growing below his waist band. Frost quickly grabbed a pair of sweat pants from the floor and bolted out of the room. Bright red from embarrassment, Nami quickly threw on her N7 hoodie and athletic shorts, and then slid out of the door hoping Kail was still sleeping. She had no such luck. As she rounded the corner Averez was sitting on the couch with a huge grin plastered across his face, the vid screen was on but his eyes were jumping between Nami and the locked bathroom door.

"Nothing happened." She stated sternly.

The grin remained in place as Kail replied. "Sure…you don't sound to convincing."

"Whatever, I was alone when I fell asleep."

"Doesn't look like that lasted long." He teased. "Hey, I'm cool. Bout time if you ask me."

"Nothing happened." Her tone got quiet "I think I'd remember if I spent the night having amazing sex."

"So, what you're saying is… sex with Frost would be amazing?" his smile got bigger.

"Oh, just shut the fuck up or I'm gonna break your face."

Nami turned and strode into the small office she had been using as her bed room and closed the door.

Frost stood in front of the bathroom sink, face dripping with water as he attempted to regain control of his body. It was like the image of Nami's disrobed form had been burned into his mind, every time he closed his eyes; there she was in all her glory. The constant discomfort his boxers were causing made Frost realize that the sink was not going to be enough so he jumped in the shower and turned it to it's coldest setting. Emerging from the bathroom, now fully in control of himself, Frost returned to his now empty room and quickly dressed.

Averez was reaching for the door leading out of the small apartment when Frost entered the living area. The engineer paused then turned, revealing a smile Frost knew could only mean he had something embarrassing to say.

"Say it and you're gonna get some free dental work."

Hands raised in surrender, Averez responded "I was just going to ask if you slept well."

Kail displayed his quick reflexes as he jumped backwards, narrowly avoiding Frost's out stretched hands as they reached for his neck, and fled the apartment before the Major could get his hands on him. Frost sank into his couch, intent on figuring out what had happened the night before, when he heard the door to his office open. Ringing her hands nervously, Nami took a seat at the end opposite him.

"Frost, I'm sorry…I was just going to watch a movie but when it started getting late I figured you weren't coming back." She began, eyes locked on her hands.

He stopped her before she could continue. "No, it's not your fault; I was the one stumbling in drunk. Plus I'm pretty sure I was way too fucked up for anything to have happened that we'd regret. "

"Yeah… regret." She said softly.

Frost had picked up on the quiet comment, but thought it best to ignore it.

"Look we're both adults and nothing happened so let's just forget about this, ok? It's really my fault anyway for not giving you a vid screen in there." He gave her a warm smile.

"Ok."

"Good, now let's go see if we can find Kail and kick his ass."

Frost and Yong caught up with Averez at his favorite breakfast spot; he was seated at a booth with Stachous and Ripley enjoying a laugh, no doubt at their expense. When they approached he graced them with another toothy grin while his two companions struggled to contain their laughter. Apparently Averez had not been sleeping when Frost stumbled into the apartment; he had been anticipating the morning's entertainment. Frost and Yong sat down as Averez continued his detailed play by play of the morning's events. Once he was done the two outsiders decided to join in on the teasing about his drunken exploits.

"Yeah, yeah, laugh it up. You two can join the Sergeant here while he cleans out _**Grace**_'s coolant system." Frost stated wearing his own smile.

"Come on Major, you know that shit smells like Krogan bath water and it takes hours. I was just fucking with you guys." Averez pleaded.

"Just means you three will have plenty of time for more stories. Oh and while you're there, Udina wants our archives from the internal cameras. You three have fun."

Frost rose to leave with his giggling Operations Chief at his side. As the neared the restaurants' front door he turned to Nami.

"I'll catch up with you later; I've got a briefing with the Turians in a few hours. Keep an eye on those three, they don't really have to clean the coolant system but I do want _**Grace**_ ready to fly in case the Turians are ready to go."

The two soldiers went their separate ways once Frost had finished, both ready to forget about their embarrassing morning.

…

Three hours later Frost and Lieutenant Winters found themselves seated in a large conference room in the Turian embassy listening to a detailed presentation of the plan to recover the Hierarchy's hidden ships. Around the room sat members from a variety of races, from the eternally beautiful Asari to the squat Volus. Frost also took note of numerous gruff looking mercenary Captains he saw filling some of the seats. Thing weren't looking good for Palaven; the Turians could only spare a small detachment of ships and soldiers for the mission and the remainder of the force would be comprised of Mercenaries and private contractors who had decided to join the war effort. Rumor had it that there was a deal in the works to bring some relief to the embattled Turians, the leaders of several races were apparently preparing for a war summit as they spoke. General Aralius had expressed his desire to deliver the small experimental fleet to the new Primarch in order to help cement any deals that were being made during negotiations. Of course the mercenaries in the room cared little about the motivations of a career officer; they were in so long as they got paid.

Frost noticed a pair of Humans he didn't recognize seated in the back row of the room. The woman wore the rank of an Alliance Commander, her dirty blond hair was cut short and styled in a fashion that looked like it only required running wet fingers through the short locks. The left side of her face bore jagged red battle scars. One ran along the left side of her jaw tracing a trail past her ear to stop just under her temple and a second scar crossed the bridge of her noise, cutting its way across her left cheek bone dangerously close to her eye and stopped only centimeters from the first. Frost couldn't deny that despite her simple hair style and scared feature, the woman had a brutal, Amazon like beauty that was as appealing as it was intimidating. Even in her seated position Frost could tell that the woman carried a powerful build, but though she possessed far more muscle than most women, her body still held on to its feminine curves. Her male counterpart, also in Alliance garb, wore the rank of a lieutenant. The junior officer was a massive man with dark skin and low cropped hair. The two defiantly looked the part of Alliance Special ops, and by the way they mirrored the Majors scanning of the room, he didn't doubt that they were quite capable.

On a raised platform in the center of the large lecture hall style room, General Aralius continued his briefing. The plan was to covertly infiltrate the top secret Turian research facility, recover the ships, and the facilities high priority data archives which contained blueprints for prototype weapons and tech. Then before evacuating, the teams would ensure the facilities destruction, the General had taken extra time to stress the fact that under no circumstances could the base be allowed to fall into enemy hands.

The task force would consist of a small group of Turians capital ships, including General Aralius's dreadnought _**Pride of Invictus**_, the mercenaries and contractors vessels, and a small army of shuttles and skiffs. The larger ships would enter the Castellus system of the Apien Crest carrying the smaller infiltration crafts in their shuttle bays. They planned to emerge from FTL as close as possible to Iritum, the systems fifth planet. The infiltrators would be dropped into the debris field created from the planets annihilated rings in an attempt to go unnoticed. The taskforce of capital ships would then move to distract the forces the Reapers had in system. The infiltration teams would make their way into the asteroid field furthest from the system's star and locate the four massive planetoids that comprised the **Param Research and Development Facility**.

The top secret stronghold was a project that had come about during the Krogan rebellions; a sizable faction within the Hierarchy's elite had deemed it prudent to construct a secret refuge in case they proved unable to rein in the out of control Krogan. The four planetoids had been towed into the system's outer most asteroid field and then had been mined out to facilitate construction. Years into the project, a Krogan attack on Digeris, the systems third planet, brought construction to a halt. With the enemy so close it was feared that the facility would be discovered. After a long costly battle, the conflict within the system had finally ended, but with the substantial losses of resources and materials the completion of the facility had been deemed impossible.

Decades after the rebellions had been resolved; a few top ranking officers within the Turian military discovered the files on the base and lobbied for support in repurposing the facility for top secret project development. Three of the asteroids had been turned into massive production facilities capable of building any of the cutting edge technologies, from star ships to hand guns, that would come down from the R&D labs located within the fourth asteroid. Throughout its time in existence the **Param facility**'s location within the asteroid field had provided not only camouflage but also a great deal of protection. Anything larger than a frigate would find it extremely difficult to approach the base; the four planetoids had also been strategically place in an area of the field that was occupied by other large asteroids making identification problematic. The four asteroids had been fortified to withstand heavy bombardment; powerful kinetic barriers had been installed along with numerous mass effect field generators to power them. The asteroid field had high yield mines strategically placed throughout the area near the facility, as well as anti-ship weapons emplacements. And still, with all of the defenses the **Param** **facility **boasted, Turian command knew it wouldn't stand a chance against a Reaper assault. The facility had been hastily shut down and evacuated only hours before the Reapers had arrived in the system.

The ship they were after were Thirty Three retro fit Turian Hunter class frigates. Hunter frigates were a proven design and the fact that the Turians had a surplus of the ship made them the ideal choice for the upgrades the Hierarchy had implemented. The Turians had set out to develop a ship comparable to the Alliance's Normandy, without the enormous production cost of the vessel. The hunters had been stripped bare, the engines and element zero cores had been overhauled and upgraded, as well as the ship's armor and shields. IES stealth systems had been modified and integrated into the ship, it was nowhere near as efficient as the Normandy, but it would still give the Hunters an edge over any other ship of its class. The frigate had also been equipped with Thanix cannons on top of the standard armaments typical of the class. The final modification to the revamped Hunters was its state of the art _Networked Tactical Virtual Intelligence_ the research and development teams had devised. The idea behind the VI network was that if instead of the ships having a single VI for the mundane functions of the ship, they could install multiple Vis programmed to not only monitor and regulate key systems but also capable of linking together to increase their processing power and operating efficiency. The result was the most advanced star ship Virtual intelligence system ever conceived, rivaled only by the Normandy with her illegal artificial intelligence. Even with all the upgrades, a Hunters was still nowhere near the ship the Normandy was, but they were among the most advanced in the galaxy now.

As the general reached the conclusion of his briefing he finished by assigning individual squad duties. "Captain Tapian will have the P1 facility. Lieutenant Kolmac, P2. And Major Lorik, the P3 facility. Your teams will have to move fast to secure those ships, the Reapers are likely to catch on quickly." The General turned and looked directly at Frost. "Major Frost and Commander Cobie of the Alliance will be responsible for the R&D facility. You all have you assignments, make final preparations. We will commence operations in sixteen hours."

With that said the general dismissed the group to prepare for the mission. As he stood to leave, Frost made eye contact with the intimidating woman he now knew to be Commander Cobie. The two officers approached on another, both giving clear apprising looks as their subordinates looked on with stone faces.

"Commander Cobie, Major Carver Frost. It's a pleasure to meet you." Frost stated professionally with his hand extended.

Taking his hand in a powerful grip Cobie responded, "The pleasure is mine Major, I've heard a lot about you."

The soldiers headed out of the conference room getting acquainted with one another, they had less than sixteen hour to make sure their two squads could work together.

**A/N: Don't forget to review!**


	9. Chapter 8

_**Mass Effect, Mass Effect 2, Mass Effect 3 and all related characters and trademarks are property of EA/Bioware. Rated M for language, violence and suggestive themes.**_

**A/N; Apologies for the long wait between updates, a lot has been going on in my little world lately. Planning for a move to a different state, new job, and much more that I won't bore you with, so things have been pretty hectic for me. My wife and son have already moved to our new home and I won't join them for a few months, so I plan to devote more time to "Vengeance" while I'm on my own. I wanted to give a special thanks to darkerego for the feedback. I haven't been getting much, but knowing that at least one person out there enjoys my story helps me stay motivated. Well, I hope you all enjoy this one and as always, whether its positive or negative feedback please don't forget to review.**

**Chapter 8- The rock and the hard place pt.1**

_Citadel_

The Citadel's docking bays were all bustling with activity, with the invasion in full swing it seemed like every military vessel aboard the station was in some phase of preparation for the various operations being staged in the Widow system. Gunnery Chief Tomas LaRone, a tall man with neatly styled blonde hair and features that could have landed him in the world of men's modeling, made his way down the busy walkways of Alliance hanger F-36a. He wasn't particularly happy about the way the heavy duffle bag and large weapon case that he had slung over his shoulder hindered his ability to catch up to the sexy little brunette he had in his sights. She had her silky brown hair pulled up into a cascading ponytail that exposed the stylish designs that were shaved into the low cropped hair on the sides of her head. The tight fitting Alliance tank top she wore offered an almost unobstructed view of the detailed artwork that covered her right arm, shoulders, and neck; the combination of the hair and tattoos giving the woman the air of a rock star that LaRone found irresistible. Getting dirty looks from the other uniformed men and women on the cramped walkway, LaRone pushed his way forward until he was close enough to get a hand on the women's wrist. As she turned, pulling her head phones from her ears, the annoyed expression on the woman's face did not match LaRone's winded attempt at a flirtatious smile.

"Is there something I can help you with?"

The emphasis she put on the word "help" had LaRone thinking that maybe he had chosen poorly with this one.

"Actually, I was just on my way to meet my new CO. But I was thinking, next time I've got some down time you and I need have dinner together." LaRone replied with confidence.

She leaned close, getting a good look at his rank insignia. "No offence Chief, but you defiantly ain't my type."

The woman turned and was just about to replace her headphones when LaRone spoke again.

"Oh, I get it. My fault, guess I shoulda figured…"

"Should have figured what?" She interrupted. "That just because I'm not into blue eyed, pretty boy, pussies that I'm what exactly?"

LaRone was seriously regretting chasing this particular "mark", as he liked to call the women he was pursuing, things usually went much better for the handsome young sniper. Backing away from the ferocious young woman with his hands raised in surrender, LaRone made the intelligent decision and just cut his losses.

"Hey, I'm just gonna shut up and leave now."

"Psst, I knew you were a pussy."

The small seductive smile the woman flashed LaRone as she turned and blended back into the rush of moving bodies left him wondering what the hell had just happened. Shaking off the confusion, he resumed making his way toward the berth where he had been told that he'd find his new CO. LaRone had heard Frost's name a few times over the years but had never meet the youngest member of the illustrious military family, he was just hoping that their introductions would go better than his recent attempt at landing a date.

After a short walk, LaRone found himself climbing the short access ramp that led to a landing pad occupied by the most aggressive looking _Skip Ray _he had ever seen. As the Chief scanned the landing pad he saw numerous technicians hurriedly moving about the craft loading equipment and completing preflight procedures. As he took in his surroundings he noticed two people holding a conversation near the craft's boarding ramp, then he cringed when he realized one of them was the woman that had almost taken his head off just moments ago. Seeing that her companion was wearing the rank of a Major, LaRone reluctantly made his way toward the pair.

"Major Frost? Gunnery Chief Tomas LaRone reporting."

LaRone snapped a crisp salute that was immediately returned by Frost.

"Nice to meet you, LaRone. This is Sergeant Diana Ripley."

"We've met." Ripley replied as she turned and ascended the ship's ramp, leaving Frost looking to LaRone with a questioning look.

"If it's ok with you sir, I'd rather not explain that." LaRone stated with embarrassment plastered across his features.

"Whatever, get your gear loaded and make yourself useful. We push off in thirty."

…

_Widow system_

_**Saving**_ _**Grace**_ was slowly decelerating; her course would bring her into the large hanger bay of the taskforce's flag ship, _**Pride**_ _**of**_ _**Invictus**_. General Aralius's dreadnought was an impressive sight framed as it was by the task force of smaller vessels. There were a total of fourteen capital class ships in the group, the Turians had their dreadnought, two cruisers, and three non-modified Hunter frigates, while the mercenaries boasted four cruisers and three frigates of various design and a heavily modified Salarian freighter. Swarms of the small infiltration craft buzzed about the area between the larger vessels as they positioned themselves to enter the shuttle bays of the capital ships.

While Lieutenant Parker prepared to pilot the ship through the massive maw of _**Pride**_ _**of**_ _**Invictus's**_ hanger, Frost explained to Chief LaRone that he would be remaining aboard _**Saving**_ _**Grace**_ during the mission_. _The Major did not doubt the sniper's competence, he just didn't want to change the Squad's dynamic this close to the start of a high priority mission.

"I understand, Sir. If you like, I can handle tactical for you." LaRone offered hoping to make some sort of contribution.

Frost accepted the Chiefs' offer and set him about familiarizing himself with _**Saving**__**Grace's**_ systems. Parker set the ship down smoothly in the enormous hanger and quickly initiated the engine shut down sequence while the squad prepared to exit the craft. The general had sent a message requesting an audience with the entire team, and their escorts had been on the flight deck waiting before the landing struts had fully settled.

The squad was quickly led through the ship's winding passages, their guides slowed their pace as they neared a door that looked like all the others they had passed and ushered them into a moderately sized conference room. At the head of the room, General Aralius stood flanked by a rarely seen female Turian.

"Major" The General stated in greeting. "I've brought you all here to make an… amendment to your mission objectives. Regretfully I'm needed on the bridge so Lieutenant Aralius here will be conducting your revised briefing. In case I don't have the opportunity to see you off, good luck."

After saluting the assembled soldiers, the General turned and left the room as the lieutenant took his previous position.

"My name is lieutenant Asteria Aralius, and before anyone asks, yes the General and I are related. My father has deemed it necessary to let you all in on the true reason for this mission. Commander Cobie and her squad have just finished docking; once they arrive I'll begin."

Frost's interest had been peaked at the mention of the amended orders, so the swift arrival of Commander Cobie's squad hadn't come a moment too soon. When the newcomers had found seats Lieutenant Aralius began the briefing by bringing up an image of a piece of alien tech that looked more like a work of art than a malicious weapon designed to subjugate organics. The _Arca Monoliths _were devices now confirmed to be of Reaper origin; General Desolas Arterius had recovered the first relic during the _First Contact War. _Contact with the alien device caused extensive mutation and it seemed that the effects were not limited to a specific species. After seeing the results of physical contact with the device, Arterius had ventured to exploit the alien artifact for his own gain. His actions resulted in the discovery of a second _Monolith_ that had long ago been buried beneath an ancient temple on the Turian home world, Palaven. She explained how the situation had quickly spun out of control, in the end an orbital strike on the temple had been ordered to contain the monstrosities created by the Reaper devices. While sifting through the rubble the investigators and clean up teams uncovered both _Arca_ _Monoliths_.

"You're telling me an orbital strike didn't destroy these things?" Commander Cobie asked disbelief clear in her voice.

"One was severely damaged. Its remaining pieces still produced faint energy signatures, but our scientist felt confident that in its compromised state, the device was defunct. The second device that was housed in the temples lower levels however did survive intact." The lieutenant replied in her double toned voice.

She continued to explain, that once removed from the temple ruins, the alien devices had been moved to the _Param_ _Facility _for safe keeping and study. Now it seemed that the Reaper forces in the Castellus system were searching for something, capturing assets they would normally reduce to slag and maintaining a strong presence within the system while forces they had in the neighboring Gemme system struggled to destroy the Turian defenders there. The only conclusion Turian command could come up with was that they were searching for the _Monoliths_. The thralls the devices created were quite different from anything seen thus far in the war and the Turians suspected that their victims were in some way unique.

"So, your government has known that this was coming for years. You've even been studying Reaper tech, but you just stood back and said nothing while the Counsel branded Shepard a lunatic." Frost's tone was one of carefully restrained anger.

"For your information Major, handling this technology is extremely dangerous. The measures that were necessary to simply ensure we could safely store the devices were astronomical. With the exception of the data General Arterius gathered, study of the artifacts has been less than productive."  
Lieutenant Aralius responded coolly.

"Ok, so these things make super husk and the Reapers want them back. Exactly what does the General expect us to do with them?" Cobie asked, steering the conversation back on track.

"Actually Commander that's quite simple. The R&D facility was equipped with five high yield thermonuclear charges after the _Monoliths_ relocation. Our objective will be to activate all five devices. If we can recover the facility's data archives, it's a bonus, but the _Monolith's_ destruction is our priority."

Frost's eyes locked with Aralius. "Our objective? You make it sound like your coming with us, Lieutenant."

Frost thought he saw a smile, or what passed for one on a Turian, flash across the lieutenant's face.

"You will require personnel familiar with the detonators in order to configure them for a delayed trigger, and I happen to be more than qualified."

With the true objective now clearly lain out for them the squad returned to the hanger bay to prepare for the mission. Frost had decided that with Lieutenant Aralius now on the mission there was no reason to exclude LaRone, he told the sniper to join the others as they readied their gear. Commander Cobie's squad of marines looked to be readying themselves for action as well; the ones not performing final checks on their gear were either reviewing the blueprints of the _Param_ _Facility _or going through pre-mission rituals. The taskforce still had a couple of hours before reaching the Castellus system, but the various infiltration teams aboard the larger ships were all putting their game faces on. As the soldier prepared mentally, the crews assigned to the capital ship's hangerbays were scrambling to clear the decks of anything not bolted down. In order to achieve a covert delivery of the infiltration craft, the carrier ships would vent their hanger bays to space, ejecting the small ships and shuttles like a load of garbage.

After making sure all of his bases were covered, Frost ascended _**Saving**__**Grace's**_boarding ramp. Near the back wall of the passenger compartment a lone storage crate sat with N7 printed across its lid. Inside was the newly distributed N7 Paladin combat armor, the suit was jet black and complete with the N7 logo and blood stripe. Admiral Lorenzo had sent new gear for the entire squad, making good on his statement about keeping his people supplied. Frost had never liked powered hard suits, too awkward and bulky for his taste, but this particular rig looked like something he could get used to. It was a sleek combat system originally designed by Cerberus; after some alterations by the Alliance it was now being distributed to their top sentinel class soldiers. The armor now contained an advanced target analysis VI instead of Cerberus's medical focused system. The only other change the Alliance techs had made was to beef up the kinetic barriers. After examining the heavy suit, Frost began squeezing into the skin tight body suit he would wear underneath, he wanted to give himself plenty of time to dawn the unfamiliar armor and get a feel for the new gear. He snapped the final clasp on the chest piece then flexed his limbs experimentally. To his surprise, the heavy armor felt almost weightless, but he was concerned about the mechanical whine from the many servos assisting his movements.

"So, that's the new rig? Looks good on you." Winters commented as she entered the ship.

"Yeah, but I'm not liking the all the noise this thing makes when I move." He replied.

"No offence, but you really don't strike me as the stealthy type."

"Maybe not, but I still don't like broadcasting my presence."

"Here, let me get the full effect." Winters said as she passed him the helmet.

He pulled the helmet over his head; a soft hiss greeted his ears as the suit sealed itself. A shot of cool air blew past his cheeks as the suits environmental control systems came to life. Lights flashed inside the helmet and the visor lit up before Frost's eyes as the suits external sensors and advanced targeting system began feeding data to the suit's onboard computer. The Major found himself a bit overwhelmed when his HUD began scrolling a seemingly endless stream of data through his field of vision, after a few adjustments to his display settings the Major was staring through a far less cluttered visor. He also noticed that the mechanical whine he had been hearing diminished significantly now that the helmet was in place; the suit's sealed state acting to reduce the sounds of its operation. Satisfied that his new equipment was sound, Frost removed the helmet and settled into the co-pilot's seat as he instructed Winters to insure that the rest of the squad was ready for action.

…

_Castellus System_

The deployment of the infiltration craft had gone off without a hitch. The delivery vessels along with the rest of the taskforce were currently speeding toward the Reaper force near the planet Fiax in hopes of keeping their attention away from the drifting shuttles. Apparently the strategy was working, if the way the Reapers were mobilizing their fighters and destroyers to intercept the capital ships could be taken as an indicator. After a short wait the order to begin the operation came in over the comm. Bringing _**Saving**_ _**Grace**_ up to full power, Lieutenant Parker took them into the system's outer most asteroid field.

The flight through the asteroid field was slow; their deployment location forced the ships to take a tedious, twisting course in order to reach the four massive military strongholds hidden within. The taskforce had successfully attracted the Reaper's attention and was now engaging in a desperate game of cat and mouse. _**Saving**__**Grace**_, along with the other infiltrators, positioned themselves to begin their side of the operation. Lieutenant Parker had the ship angled for approach on the asteroid labeled R&D in bright green on his HUD, Commander Cobie's shuttle hung just off their port side. The other infiltration teams were also moving in on their target facilities labeled A, B, and C which housed the modified frigates. Though the vessels were a valuable asset, the true purpose for their recovery was to keep any attackers not occupied by the taskforce's distraction from pinpointing the R&D facility. With all four facilities coming back online, boarding would be the only way to determine which contained the _Monoliths_.

Parker slowly decelerated as they approached a massive hanger door that looked oddly out of place set against the asteroids rocky surface. The door was so large that Frost imagined that a dreadnought could easily be parked inside.

"No response from the hanger's control systems, Sir." Ensign Maxwell reported from his position at the communications station.

The access codes Turian command had provided were suppose to activate the facility's automated docking protocols. Sliding in behind Maxwell, Lieutenant Aralius reached an armored talon over his shoulder and typed a few commands on his console.

"It looks like the tight beam transmitters are offline, we'll need to find an alternate entry point."

The lieutenant activated her omni-tool, highlighting an area of the asteroid a few hundred yards from the hanger.

"If we get to this maintenance hatch we should be able to manually bypass its lock."

With their new destination decided upon, Frost active the ships comm. "Change of plans Commander, we've got a new entry point, I'm sending the coordinates now."

"Copy that Major, we'll follow you in."

As Parker repositioned _**Saving Grace**_, Frost glanced toward the comm station and noted that the teams entering the other three facilities didn't seem to be experiencing problems with their access codes. The comm was constantly crackling to life as the numerous entry confirmations flooded in.

Parker brought the belly of the ship just meters from the facility's rocky surface then typed a command on his consol causing the cockpits atmospheric barrier to shimmer into existence. The combat team sealed their helmets in preparation to get underway and as the boarding ramp reached its full extension Frost stepped off, moving carefully in the low gravity environment. The squad reached the maintenance hatch and waited while Averez and Aralius made short work of the locking mechanism. As they were preparing to enter the hatch Commander Cobie arrived with her squad.

One by one the seventeen Commandos made their way down the narrow maintenance shaft; the short drop at the end of the long ladder deposited them in a long maintenance corridor. As the last marine dropped from the ladder into the pipe filled hallway, the Major opened his omni-tool and began issuing orders.

"Yong, Stachous, and Ripley have charge one. Averez, Winters, and Hiymora are on data retrieval."

As Frost paused, Lieutenant Aralius spoke up." The mainframe can only be accessed from the administrative suites on the thirteenth level." She typed a command into her omni-tool." These codes will give you full access."

Frost smirked behind his visor; the lieutenant seemed to enjoy having all the answers.

"Ok, Aralius and LaRone are with me. We'll head for the fifth charge in the vault. Commander Cobie, I was thinking your squads could handle the three remaining charges."

"Not a problem Major, we'll get it done." Cobie Responded confidently.

Having received their orders, the teams readied their weapons and headed off toward the six objectives. As they moved through the base Aralius raised concerns about the state of the facility, the internal network was responding in a similar fashion as the hanger control system. According to Aralius, once they were inside the facility it should have recognized her command level access codes and brought the secondary systems back online. Thus far the only systems that seemed to be up and running were emergency lighting, life support, and artificial gravity.

"You thinking glitch, or do we have company here?" Frost asked not liking the latter possibility.

"No, it's likely just a glitch. We received evac and lockdown confirmations from all four facilities."

Frost wasn't really comforted by her declaration, and by the way LaRone's grip tightened on his Incisor sniper rifle, he apparently wasn't either. Despite their reservations, the two marines continued following the Turian deeper into the facility.

…

"Commander, I'm seeing signs of a firefight here." Lieutenant David Banner reported over his squad's comm frequency. The large marine was bent down examining a deep gash in the metal deck plating while his other two team mates surveyed the empty hallway ahead of them.

"Understood. Stay on mission ELL-TEE, just get to the bomb and keep your head on a swivel." Cobie responded.

"Copy that ma'am. Banner out."

…

Nami knew this was supposed to be a relatively uneventful mission if things went according to plan. Nevertheless, she could not shake the feeling that something was off here. The straight, sterile walls of the facilities hallways felt like they were pressing in on her despite the passage's abundance of space. The research station's layout was so uniform and repetitive that it reminded Nami of a house of mirrors, no matter which way she looked the scenery was the same. Doing her best to ignore her anxiety, she pressed on toward their goal with her two companions.

…

"You sure we're going the right way, Averez?"

Winters question went unanswered as Kail consulted his omni-tool. The team had been twisting their way through the base, going from one hallway to the next, all of which looked exactly the same.

"According to the schematic, the lift to the admin levels should be down this next intersection."

Rounding what seemed like their hundredth corner, Winters saw a door at the end of the long hallway that looked like all the others they had passed along the way. After trying and failing repeatedly at powering up the door's interface, Averez grudgingly accepted Hiymora's assistance as the two marines forced the two halves apart. They filed into the lift only to find that its user interface was also unresponsive.

"Looks like we're taking the hard route." Hiymora stated as he holstered his pistol.

A moment later Hiymora had the maintenance hatch in the lift's ceiling open, the N7's quickly shimmied through the hatch and onto the roof to begin their long climb.

…

Commander Trista Cobie and Corporal Bobbie Jansen made their way down a hallway that was slightly different than the others they had passed through thus far. This one was narrow with a deactivated barrier generator set into its far wall. Behind the generator was a heavy security door that Jansen wasted no time splicing into. After a few frustrating attempts at opening the door Jansen got creative. Using power from her hard suit, the engineer managed to feed the door just enough energy so that she was rewarded with its two halves parting fractionally. The two women forced the door open just enough to slip through and found themselves in a small room only lit by the emergency lighting running its perimeter. The walls were identical to all the others in the facility, but at the center of the room an active barrier surrounded a large metal cylinder that was ringed with dimly flashing lights.

"Let's make this quick, Jansen. This place is giving me a bad feeling."

…

"How long on that door, Tompson?"

Lieutenant Vincent Stark was not known for his patience, but Sergeant Steven Tompson was going as fast as he could. Though Tompson had plenty of technical training, this was a task that would normally have been delegated to Corporal Jansen. He was more than capable of getting them through the door, he just couldn't be expected to solve the problem as quickly as the squad's engineering prodigy.

"You know Stark, patience is a virtue." Tompson responded sarcastically.

With a faint click, the door's mechanical lock released allowing the marines to muscle their way into another dimly lit hallway.

"Remind me never to hire a Turian decorator." Corporal Sasha Lang deadpanned as her eyes took in yet another long bland hallway.

"Looks like the charge is just past the next intersection, about two hundred yards and we're there." Tompson stated as he deactivated his omni-tool.

"Let's get moving people." Stark ordered.

…

_Pride of Invictus: Castellus System_

General Drakus Aralius stood on his raised platform in the center of the CIC staring at _**Pride**_ _**of**_ _**Invictus's**_tacticaldisplay. So far his taskforce had only taken minimal damage, but he could see that the Reapers were looking to change that as a few of their destroyers moved across his screens, closing in to coral a group of mercenary frigates. Up until now his ships had been taking advantage of the systems inner most asteroid field, running a dangerous gauntlet as they engaged the Reaper's forces. His ships were only moving in close enough to take pot shots at the living starships near the planet Fiax from range. Once they had the enemy's attention they would retreat into the lightly congested areas of the asteroid field while the strategy was repeated by other members of the taskforce. Thus far they had managed to repeat the tactic several times and had only taken damage from the nimble Reaper fighters that pursued into the asteroid field. Aralius however could now see a second detachment of Reaper destroyers moving in, clearly intent on cutting off the retreating frigates. He was tempted to take his dreadnought into the fight and attempt to assist the trapped mercenaries, but so far the Reapers had been ignoring _**Pride**_ _**of**_ _**Invictus**_and Aralius needed to keep it that way for as long as possible. Just when it looked as if the mercenary frigates were corned, as one, all three ships vanished in a flash of light.

"Very clever." The General commented to himself.

"General, _**Righteous**_ _**Defiance**__, __**Star**__**Hunter**__, and __**Infinity's**__**Embrace**_have all completed synchronized micro-jumps. They dropped out of FTL just outside of the outer asteroid field." _**Invictus's**_sensor officer reported.

"Very clever indeed. Lieutenant, inform Captain Halic that his group is up. And order Captain Pheinos's group to withdraw to the far side of Nios. They will be needed if we hope to make it out of this system."

The battle was going well but Aralius knew that his guerilla tactics were nearing the end of their effectiveness; his Captains would need to prove themselves just as resourceful as the three mercenary commanders if they hoped to survive the operation.

"General, two unknown vessels have just dropped out of FTL near the edge of the system. They're heading directly for the _Param_ _Facility_."

Aralius was surprised by the report. With the fighting going on elsewhere in the Apien Crest, he hadn't expected reinforcements for either side to arrive until well after the battle had ended.

"I'm not receiving any friendly IFF pings."

"Who do we have that's close enough to intercept?" The General asked, maintaining his cool demeanor.

"Just the three mercenary frigates out beyond the outer asteroid field, Sir."

"Get _**Infinity's**_ _**Embrace **_on the line; inform Captain Sorien that those ships are not to reach the _Param_ _Facility_ under any circumstances."

Aralius knew Captain Sorien well, her small group had built themselves a reputation for being one of the most effective and professional private contracting firms in Council space. They took on anything from wet work to corporate espionage, but their specialty was high value asset recovery. Their success rate had landed them work with the Turian and Asari governments and more recently they had even done contract work for the notorious Shadow Broker. Captain Sorien was an ex-Asari commando and the General knew she would do everything possible to carry out her orders.

"Sir, the Reaper destroyers that were pursuing Captain Sorien's group have changed course, they are now on a direct line for _Param_."

Aralius's fist came down hard enough to dent the metal railing of his command podium.

"Helm set course to intercept those destroyers. Tell the infiltrators that their time has just run out."

…

_Param Research and Development facility_

"Maj…Gener…alius…Reapers…way." Though the transmission was broken and fuzzy, Frost got the gist.

"Parker, if you can hear me pull back to a safe distance and lay low. We'll call for pickup when we're done here."

"Copy…at Ma…."

Frost's team had been having trouble with their radios since they had reached the level that housed the vault. Lieutenant Aralius had not been able to supply an answer for the interference; she said that she was certain that they should have still been outside of the _Arca_ _Monolith's _area of influence. The energy emitted by the Reaper device made comm use impossible at close proximity, but measures should have been in place to keep its effects confined to the area within the vault. The team made their way through a spacious warehouse like room with high ceilings and rows of towering shelves and stacks of heavy storage crates. A network of catwalks crisscrossed the air above their heads forming a second level to give access to items on the higher shelves. This was where the Turians kept their most advance technologies and darkest secrets, and had circumstances been different, Frost was sure he would have had to fight through hell to have made it this deep within the Turian's secret storehouse. As the three soldiers moved down the warehouse's central aisle toward the thick armored door at the room's far end, Frost heard the distinct retort of weapons fire. With rifles raised the three commandos sprung into action, taking up positions behind cover at either side of the path.

"Hundred credits say that's why our access codes ain't workin." LaRone stated through an extremely fuzzy comm channel.

Frost switched to the general squad frequency and was greeted with a massive burst of static.

"Damn it, these radios are fucked." Frost barked angrily.

"I just don't understand, all my data says we shouldn't get any interference until we enter the vault." Aralius responded, losing a bit of the cockiness she had been exuding since her first meeting with the Major.

"Doesn't matter, we've got Reapers on the way. Here's the plan, once we're through that door LaRone and I will clear the room while you get into the vault and set the charge. Then we get the hell out of here and find the others before we've got zombies crawling out of the woodwork."

"I'll never understand the phrases you Humans use. There isn't a single ounce of wood on this station."

"Let's just get this done. That work for you Lieutenant?"

The determined nod from the Turian officer was the response Frost had hoped for. As they once more moved toward the large door the soldiers steeled themselves to face whatever was on the other side. After lifting a panel in the deck plating near the doors right side, Aralius tossed a grenade beneath the deck then scrambled into cover with Frost and LaRone.

…

_Infinity's Embrace: Castellus System_

"Captain Sorien, we're receiving orders to intercept the unknown ships in route to the _Param_ _Facility."_

"Set intercept course, and tell Captain Elybius, and Tarlack to form up on our flanks …and get me an ID on those ships."

Captain Ilise Sorien had decades worth of fleet combat experience. She knew her small group of frigates would have a hard time against anything larger than a military grade frigate in a direct engagement.

"Profiles are extremely irregular Ma'am; size estimations tag the lead ship as cruiser class, and the other as frigate class. Wait, I'm detecting multiple contacts hiding in their sensor shadows." Sorien's sensor officer paused, leaning in to get a better look at the screen. "We've got fighters incoming."

It all became clear to Sorien, the sensors couldn't get a match because the readings they were getting off the squadron of fighters flying tight against the capital ships bellies were just slightly outside of the recognition systems parameters. Now with the fighters braking away, the Alliance type frigate and cruiser were easily identified.

"Cerberus, what the hell are they doing here?" Sorien asked, knowing full well that anyone's guess was as good as another.

She opened the tight beam communication channels to her companion vessels and began issuing orders. "Gentlemen, we take the cruiser first. I want everything you've got on the initial volley; we have to finish this fast."

…

_Param Research and Development facility_

The sounds of automatic weapon fire echoed from the next room as Frost, LaRone, and Aralius huddled in cover near the large door. A loud bang and the grinding and shearing of metal ripped through the warehouse as the heavy door rose a few feet from the ground now that it was free from its counterweight. Ducking low, the soldiers crossed into the next room to be greeted with the sight of an enormous Reaper altered Turian. The monster had failed to notice the three soldiers as they moved into the room due to the fact that it was focused on the constant stream of fire coming from somewhere overhead.

"Take it down." Frost yelled as he let a flurry of rounds loose from his rifle.

The twisted Turian was fast, much faster than any Turian Frost had ever faced. It reacted to the team's attack instantly, only a single round found its mark as the creature bounded away from the new threat. The unseen shooter however, was faster. The monster found that the space it had intended to retreat to was now a killing zone, a storm of high velocity rounds ripped through the creatures flesh as it landed, but amazingly, the beast stayed on its feet. Thick blue fluid oozed like syrup from the many holes riddling the monster's hide, but as battered as the thing was, its eyes still burned with murderous intent.

Rushing forward, Frost renewed his assault on the creature, closing the distance between them all the while feathering his rifle's trigger. Halfway to the wounded beast, Frost heard an odd clang from overhead. Sensing the new threat, Frost stopped short just as a second monster crashed to the floor in front of him. A trio of rounds zipped past the Majors helmet as LaRone opened fire on the new target, unfortunately the snipers shots sailed through the empty space the monster had vacated just as quickly as it had appeared. LaRone's actions did give Frost a few seconds to compose himself as the new husk retreated. In that time Aralius managed to put a few rounds of her own through the original creature's chest and skull, finally bringing the giant to its knees. Frost eyes flashed back and forth searching the room for the uninjured monster, only finding countless areas where deep shadows dominated, giving the thing excellent cover to hide in.

"Anybody got eyes on the other one." Frost asked as he continued scanning the spacious room.

"Negative sir." LaRone responded.

"There are so many crates in here, it could be anywhere." Aralius added.

"Northwest corner, between the two cryo storage units."

The voice came from above them, and though it was filtered through helmets audio outputs, Frost picked up the double toned qualities of a female Turian.

After putting two more rounds through the prone creature's skull, Frost's team moved cautiously down the central aisle toward the second monster's hiding place. They took a little comfort in the knowledge that they had an unexpected but welcome ally in this fight. The storage room was almost identical to the one they had just left, the only difference being that this one had only two rows of shelving running the length of both side walls. The remainder the room's usable space was filled with dozens of uniformly spaced groups of large storage crates and other pieces of heavy equipment.

When they neared the cryo units, Frost motioned for LaRone and Aralius to swing out wide and approach from the flanks, as he continued on approaching from the front. As if realizing that the trap was about to be sprung, the creature flew from its hiding place, sailing high through the air over the forklift Frost had been using to conceal his final approach. Landing heavily at his side, the monster swung a massive fist in an attempt to remove Frost from the fight. Acting on instinct alone, Frost dove beneath the powerful swing. Twisting as he rolled from between the behemoths thick legs, Frost came to his feet behind the husk and unloaded his weapon at near point blank range. Barely registering the attack, the enormous husk spun and charged forward slamming into Frost with so much force that it lifted him from his feet and sent him flying. The shield Frost had hastily created with his omni-tool shattered on impact, but its intended purpose of absorbing the bulk of the blow had been accomplished. Mid way through his flight, Frost pulled his knees tight against his chest just before his back slammed hard against the corner of a heavy crate. Stars danced in Frost's vision and waves of fire shot through his left shoulder with each beat of his heart, and then everything snapped into focus as he realized he was unarmed. The impact of the landing had sent Frost's rifle skittering across the metal floor and well out of his reach. Quickly getting to his knees, the Major's hand started toward his pistol just before he caught a flash of movement in his peripheral. The monster's clawed fist slammed hard into the crate, punching through the thick metal in the exact spot Frost's head had just vacated. Materializing in the flash of orange, the arching slash of the Major's omni-blade severed the creatures hand at the wrist as he rolled away from the beast. The husk let out an anguished roar as it gripped its truncated limb. With Frost now clear, the other soldiers opened up, dropping the husk to its knees. Frost removed his Carnifex hand cannon from its holster and put two rounds in the lingering creature's skull at point blank range.

…

"Commander Cobie, this is Operations Chief Yong. Have you had any contact with the Major?"

"Negative Chief, there's been no contact from his team since he ordered _**Saving**_ _**Grace**_ away from the facility."

Nami was worried; that bad feeling was still nagging at her, but she knew Frost could take care of himself.

"Our charge is armed. What are our orders Ma'am?"

"Regroup at the atrium on the housing level. Aside from Frost's, all the other nukes are set so once everyone arrives we'll head for the hanger. I'm assuming command of both squads until we reestablish communications with Frost."

"Understood Ma'am, we'll grab Winters' team on our way there."

"Make it fast Chief, we've got Reapers incoming."

…

_Infinity's Embrace: Castellus System_

_**Infinity's**_ _**Embrace**_ blazed through space, trying desperately but futilely to close in on the Cerberus frigate. The enemy vessel had blasted its way past the three ship wolf pack, leaving the task of delaying the mercenaries to its larger companion. The cruiser was wounded and limping thanks to the combined first strike of Captain Sorien's trio, so as _**Infinity's**_ _**Embrace**_ raced after the speeding frigate, _**Righteous**_ _**Defiance**_ and _**Star**__**Hunter**_ continued to pound their easy prey. The Cerberus fighters had split into two groups, the first flew escort for the frigate, circling the ship protectively, ready to intercept any incoming fire. The second was doing its best to keep the mercenary frigates from noticing the eight shuttles that had escaped the cruiser's hanger bay and were know racing for the asteroid field.

"Open a channel to the infiltration teams, and inform them of the incoming Cerberus force."

Sorien hated having to admit it but she had no hope of stopping the frigate, its head start was just too great to overcome before the ship would reach a clear lane into the asteroid field.

"Aaliha, match the enemy's course. Do not lose them in the asteroid field." Sorien ordered her young Asari pilot.

"Understood ma'am."

"Message incoming, its General Aralius." Her Turian sensor officer reported.

"Put him through."

On the small screen built into her command chair, Captain Sorien gazed upon the determined image of General Aralius.

"Captain, how are you managing?"

"The cruiser is being dealt with, but my apologies, Sir. The frigate made it past us, we are currently in pursuit but we will not be able to keep them from reaching _Param_." Sorien reported.

"Understood Captain, I'll delay these destroyers for as long as possible. Your new orders are to secure the area around the facility so the infiltrators can get those ships out."

"Good luck General."

"To you as well Captain. This is almost over, just a little further and we'll be heading home." Aralius's tone was caring and sincere.

"Stay alive, young one" Sorien thought to herself as Aralius's image faded.

…

_Param Research and Development facility_

"OK Averez, it's time to go." Winters ordered from the threshold of the large computer filled room.

"I don't even have half of the data on this mainframe yet. How long till the Reapers get here?" Averez asked as he tried desperately to boost his download speed.

"No time, Cobie says we've got Cerberus incoming too. So move your ass Sergeant, that shit isn't even priority."

Realizing that the lieutenant was not in a patient mood, Averez disconnected the gaggle of power cells he'd assembled from the console and headed for the door. As Winters, Averez, and Hiymora ran down the hall the floor shuddered lightly beneath their feet.

"Anybody else feel that?" Hiymora asked.

"It's probably our party crashers, so keep moving."

…

Frost leaned heavily against a large crate appraising two Turian soilders in armor identical to Lieutenant Aralius's, with the exception of color scheme. The mystery shooters had flown down from the upper level on tiny rockets attached at the shoulders and ankles of their combat suits. Since first seeing Aralius dawn her armor aboard _**Saving**_ _**Grace**_, Frost had wondered what purpose the odd devices held. They seemed to give their wearer an impressive advantage where it came to mobility.

"How's the shoulder, Major?" LaRone asked.

The observant sniper had noticed the way Frost's left shoulder seemed to hang limply at his side since the fight. There was no doubt in LaRone's mind, the Major was in an amazing amount of pain but his voice was as calm as ever when he replied.

"Dislocated. Think you can give me a hand."

Frost lay back flat on the ground trying his best to relax. LaRone took his injured arm in a tight grip then placed a boot firmly against Frost ribs and gently pulled. After a few moments there was an audible pop and LaRone felt the limb seat itself, the grunt of pain that escaped Frost giving further evidence to the sniper's success. A quick shot of medi-gel and the Major was on his feet moving the limb about experimentally. He collected his rifle and made his way toward the mysterious soldiers.

"Not that I don't appreciate the assist, but what are you two doing here?" Frost asked the two armored newcomers.

"No offence Human, but this is a Turian military installation. I think you're the ones who should be explaining your presence." The large male responded.

"The Major is here at the request of Turian high command. You will show him the respect you would a Turian officer." Aralius barked.

The female sniper spoke up attempting to defuse the escalating situation. "My name is Lieutenant Dala Palin, and this is Specialist Ramis Seizer. I'm the security Chief of the R&D facility."

"This is Major Frost and Chief LaRone of the System Alliance, and I am Lieutenant Aralius."

"Ok, now that we've finished the introductions, what are you two still doing on this rock?" Frost asked. His tone made it clear that his patience was wearing thin.

Specialist Seizer gave the Major and LaRone each an appraising look before he spoke.

"The scientist in charge of research on the _Monoliths_, Dr. Lepidus had been acting…suspicious in the weeks just before the invasion. So Lieutenant Palin and I had been keeping a close eye on him. When the evac orders came in, he and his eight subordinates went missing. By the time we located them; the scientist had managed to lock us out of the base's systems and had sent the lockdown confirmations to high command. We've been running around this asteroid ever since trying to keep them from signaling the Reapers."

"Did anyone else stay behind?" Aralius asked.

"No, we were in the last phases of the evacuation when we realized the scientists were missing. I ordered the rest of our security force to complete the evac and pull out on the shuttles while we went back for Lepidus." Lieutenant Palin replied.

"And these…things are their test subjects?" Frost asked a bit harshly as he jabbed a finger toward the monster at his feet.

"Before seven day ago, I'd never seen anything like them". "No Major, those are the scientist." As Seizer finished speaking, he released his rifle's spent thermal clip. "And there are likely five more inside the vault."

There was a moment of silence as Frost paced slowly, internally analyzing the situation.

"LaRone, I need you to reestablish contact with the other teams. We were still getting a workable signal just before we entered the first warehouse, get over there and tell Averez to find us a way off this rock. You two are coming with us into the vault, we keep those things off Aralius while she does her thing, then we bug the hell out."

LaRone didn't need any more prompting; he turned and sprinted back the way they had come without looking back.

"And exactly what is the Lieutenant's thing?" Seizer asked, his tone laced with suspicion.

"Arming the thermonuclear device while ensuring we have enough time to escape." Aralius stated while checking her weapon.

"Let's get this done, our problems are just gonna keep piling up the longer we stay here." Frost added.

…

"LaRone, is that you?" Winters was relieved to hear the voices of anyone from their missing team.

"Yeah, Frost…Aral…bout to..ter the vault…..to get …out."

"You're breaking up LaRone. Repeat last part of your transmission."

"…Avere…find us… off this roc…"

"Understood, tell the Major that Cerberus is here and it looks like they want the _Monoliths_ too. We'll hold them off till you guys are done but make it fast."

LaRone had clearly heard the Lieutenant say "Cerberus and _Monoliths_" but the rest was lost to static. It didn't matter though. He had made contact and now he needed to let the Major know that in addition to the monsters crawling around the asteroid and the Reapers that were no doubt closing in, they now had Cerberus incoming as well. As LaRone once again ran full tilt down the aisle of the massive warehouse he found himself thinking that this mission was getting really old really fast.

…

_Infinity's Embrace: Castellus System_

Captain Sorien sat in her command chair contemplating the situation she now found her ship in. Alarms were sounding throughout the ship and the decks were filling with smoke. With the urgent voices and the flood of damage reports fighting for her attention, it was quickly becoming clear that these were the final moments of the _**Infinity's**_ _**Embrace**_.

"All hands, abandon ship."

The Cerberus Frigate had gone directly for the R&D facility, leaving its fighter escort to ambush _**Infinity's**_ _**Embrace**_ as she made her way through the asteroid field. The flickering display before Sorien showed two shuttles racing away from the enemy frigate, heading for the asteroid's surface. As she watched the screen, Sorein caught the glint of thruster exhaust through the forward view port and she knew the fighters would soon be back to finish them off. The Captain keyed a flurry of commands into her consol, programming a course that would slam her dying frigate into the Cerberus ship, and then she headed for the escape pod. She paused for a moment at the pods threshold, _**Infinity's**_ _**Embrace**_ had been her home for the last sixty four years and it held a warm place in her heart. The Captain's resolute expression returned as she turned and entered the pod, sealing the hatch behind her.

…

_Param Research and Development facility_

"Commander Cobie, did you get that transmission?"

"Affirmative Lieutenant, by the sound of it I'd say our guests have arrived so I think the atrium is as good a place as any for us to set up to wait for Frost. Plus we've got an elevator shaft directly to the hanger level in there."

"Sounds like a plan. What about pick up?" Winters asked.

"With Cerberus fighters out there, we should probably see what's left in the hanger." Cobie responded.

"When you get here I'm sending you, Averez, and Jansen down to see what we can use."

"Copy that, Commander."

Cobie looked around not liking the quality of cover the atrium had to offer, the large open area was fashioned after a lush Turian colony world. There were trees, bushes, shallow ponds and lazy waterfalls scattered throughout the spacious common area. It provided a place for the facility's personnel to relax in a seemingly natural environment. As she surveyed the room, Cobie noticed Lieutenant Banner enter through one of the many doors with his team in tow.

"Banner, what took you so long?"

"O'Malley ain't exactly a bomb tech." The large marine replied.

"Hey, I got it done, didn't I? My job is putting holes in heads, not rigging explosives." Sergeant Zoei O'Malley stated with mock offence.

"I need you in a perch O'Malley; we've got to hold here till Frost is done, as you can see there isn't much cover." Cobie looked to Banner and continued. "ELL-TEE, we're holding the main floor. We'll put our backs to the waterfall, if we're lucky maybe they won't have the numbers to press us too hard."

"Not likely, I heard about what they did on Mars, calling it over kill is an understatement." Banner stated as he started moving toward the small pond and waterfall on the atriums main level.

…

The Major couldn't believe his eyes, the _Arca_ _Monolith_ truly was a beautiful sight to behold. But as he caught sight of the massive beast looming behind the device, he wondered if the awed feeling he was experiencing was a side effect of his proximity to the alien technology.

Lieutenant Aralius had told Frost that General Arturius had dubbed the creatures "Meta Turians"; he was convinced that they represented the pinnacle of Turian evolution. Palin and Seizer grudgingly agreed, saying the things were not only stronger and faster than any other Turian, but they seemed to retain a primal intelligence. They had killed two of them on their own before running into Frost's team. After two days of running for their lives, crawling through ventilation ducts as the monster hunted them, they had just barely managed to lead the creatures into an improvised trap.

Beside the glowing device, stood a normal sized Turian in a dingy, tattered lab coat. Dr. Lepidus's eyes burned a vibrant blue, removing any doubt as to whether or not he was under Reaper control. The four soldiers continued forward, weapons locked on the Meta Turian behind the _Monolith _as three more stepped from the shadows. As they slowly moved toward the _Monolith_, Aralius's sharp eyes located the facility's final nuke.

"This will take some time, Frost. I have to reconfigure the trigger mechanisms remotely for the other devices before I can arm this one." Aralius whispered. "The console is far too exposed. We'll have to deal with these things first."

"I cannot allow you to destroy this place." Dr. Lepidus's voice had a slight mechanical quality to it. "Your objectives are transparent, and the insignificance of your efforts will become clear once the master's arrive."

Knowing full well that it was pointless to attempt negotiations with the enslaved scientist, Frost opened fire. Needing no further signal his Turian companions sprang into action as well, all three blasted off toward their chosen targets with rocket assisted speed, rifles singing the whole way. The speed Dr. Lepidus displayed surprised Frost, as his rounds impacted the room's far wall, having missed their mark. Before the Major could line up another shot on the elusive doctor, he was forced to dive out of the path of a heavy piece of lab equipment tossed effortlessly by the last unoccupied Meta Turian. Recovering quickly, Frost stitched the creatures hide with rounds, to little effect. Regardless, he continued feathering his trigger as he backed away, not wanting to engage in another close quarters fight with one of the monsters. The sounds of weapons fire rebounded all around the large room as the four soldiers tried desperately to stop their amazingly durable and agile opponents, the staccato diminishing only for a few seconds at a time as thermal clips where ejected, and picking back up just as quickly as they had paused. The Meta Turians were fast and strong but they still took damage, and by the way they were bounding from cover to cover, avoiding as many of the teams shots as possible, they apparently had some sort of self preservation instinct in there too.

"We have to draw them out into the open." Aralius yelled over the sound of rifle fire.

Knowing that she was right Frost scanned the area searching for anything that could give them an edge. Though the room was large, when compared with the two warehouse like rooms he had previously been in this was tiny. The functioning _Monolith_ dominated the center of the room, the remains of its shattered twin lay neatly arranged on a large glass covered table on the wall behind it. The active alien device was ringed by powerful looking emitters for a deactivated containment field. The four tall support beams where spaced evenly around the room, wires twisted around their lengths from ceiling to floor in order to feed power into the containment field. The four walls sloped inward as they rose from the floor until they meet the flat ceiling high above, their only feature being the thin metal catwalk running the perimeter. Besides the few mobile barricades strategically placed throughout the room there wasn't much in the way of cover.

Before Frost could work out a plan of attack, Seizer hurtled the small workstation he had been firing over. The multiple jets on his suit ignited, sending the soldier high into the air, at the peak of his flight two cylinders fired off from his omni-tool. The two fire balls that blossomed behind the _Monoliths_ sent the creatures scattering. Intent on capitalizing on the chaos Seizer had created, Frost surged forward with his biotics flaring wildly around his body. Grunting from the effort, he released the building dark energy blasting one of the Meta Turians mid leap sending it careening into a barricade. Seizer's rifle peppered the downed creature with rounds as he and Frost's back's came together, twin Pheaston rifles chasing the three monsters still darting around the room into the waiting sights of the female officers.

As Frost ejected his weapon's spent thermal clip, he noticed that Lepidus was nowhere to be seen. The Major did not want the insane scientist out of his sight for even a moment but with the Meta Turians still in the picture he had to prioritize. In the few seconds that Frost's mind was unfocused, one of the creatures landed only inches from him. Frost lunged sideways causing the incoming blow to glance off his shoulder, but Seizer wasn't prepared and found himself flying headlong into one of the support beams.

Aralius and Palin continued laying down suppressing fire, keeping the two remaining monsters from pressing in on Frost and Seizer. After quickly picking himself up the Major ran full tilt toward the prone engineer. The creature was closing in on Seizer, intent on finishing him. Rounds from Frost rifle punched through the Meta Turian's knee staggering the brute, the shift in momentum causing it to crash to a halt a few meters from the downed Turian. The monster was back on its feet in an instant, now focused fully on Frost, which was exactly what the Major wanted. The two mismatched opponents circled one another, tensed to strike. Never one to keep his adversary waiting, Frost pulled his trigger. Rounds ripped through the air as the monster surged forward, taking each one with barely a flinch as its clawed hand flashed out grasping for the Major. The only thing the husk found was a cloud of super cooled particles where Frost had been. The Major's snap freeze caused the thing's limbs and joints to instantly ice over. Thought its movements were significantly slowed, the Meta Turian continued advancing toward Frost until Aralius's cryo blast connected with its feet, locking it into place. The frustrating click of his spent rifle greeted the Major as he made to finish the beast. Switching tactics on the fly, he planted a biotic punch squarely in the monster's face, shattering the entire left side.

With two creatures down and the two that remained riddled with holes Frost risked checking on Seizer. The two female officers seemed to be keeping their targets busy and Seizer still hadn't shown any signs of movement. Reaching the engineer's side, Frost gently rolled him over. As his back touched the ground Seizer jumped, snapping fully awake.

"It's ok, Seizer. Looks like that hit put your lights out." Frost supplied offering the man a hand to get to his feet.

"Damn it. Those things hit hard." The Turian replied in a voice even more gravely than normal.

"Looks like we're down to two now. Let's finish this and get the hell outta here."

"You know what, Frost. If we get off this rock drinks are on me."

Frost helped the Turian back to his feet, the sounds of their female counterpart's struggles still echoing around the room. Frost stowed his empty rifle, pulling his heavy pistol as he prepared to rejoin the fight. Before Frost and Seizer were able to get back into the battle, Aralius's full auto spread forced her target into Lieutenant Palin's crosshairs. The third round that entered the creature's skull brought its struggles to an end. It seemed that the sight of its last surviving companion falling caused the final Meta Turian to throw caution to the wind. The thing charged Aralius's position only to be met by a maelstrom of rounds as the entire team opened up.

With the last monster down the soldiers took stock, Aralius headed for the console that controlled the nukes detonators while Seizer and Palin brought the facility's systems back online. If they wanted to get out fast, having doors that opened on their own and working lifts would certainly make things go much more smoothly.

Frost crouched down to examine one of the Meta Turians, as behind him the forgotten Dr Lepidus stepped from behind a support columns. The long metal object the doctor carried glinted in the blue tinted light of the vault. As the enslaved scientist prepared to strike, his head exploded as the triple retort of a distant sniper rifle rang out.


End file.
